No stand-out to replace Carter the unstoppable points machine

All eyes are now fixed firmly on his replacement, Colin Slade, who has done little enough in his four starts to merit his inheriting the boots of a global superstar. Slade does kick the ball a long way but far more important than that is his perfect timing. He had the priceless ability of being in the right place at the appointed hour when Carter collapsed.

Should the young stand-off fall flat on his face against Argentina, Graham Henry will only have himself to blame. The coach has had eight years to find a suitable understudy to shadow Carter. Over the years he has tried, tested and rejected a long list of pretty handy substitutes: Stephen Donald, Luke McAlister, Aaron Cruden, who has been pulled into the World Cup squad, Piri Weepu, Leon MacDonald and of course Nick Evans, who is now strutting his stuff in Harlequins’ multi-coloured strip. The best of the above took one look at Carter and decided that their future lay elsewhere. Evans would get into most Test teams in world rugby but, fearing an exodus, the All Black selectors won’t pick players from abroad.

Would they make an exception in an emergency? Only after Owen Franks rides home a winner in the Melbourne Cup.

The debate rages down under but there are plenty who argue that Slade is somewhere near the bottom of the stand-off food chain, behind the following candidates all of whom have been ruled out for one reason or another: Carter (injured), Evans (abroad), Donald (overlooked), McAlister (overlooked and abroad), Tony Brown (the veteran Higlanders half-back was a realistic candidate), Jimmy Gopperth (single handedly keeping the Falcons afloat in England’s Premiership), Benji Marshall (the league superstar is arguably the best rugby player of either code in the world) and the Wallabies’ very own turncoat Quade Cooper, who was born and bred in Waikato and spent the first 13 years of his life in New Zealand.

The All Blacks could be going into battle with something like the eighth or ninth-best stand-off in the country although Henry obviously doesn’t concur and the coach has support from at least one other source. Both Carter and Slade emerged from the rugby hothouse that is Christchurch Boys High and their school coach Stephen Dods told the press last week that the youngster could become better than Carter.

All Black fans will hope so, even if that tale sounds like it came from the Brothers Grimm. Already there are whispers emerging from the All Black camp that Piri Weepu may move one wider, if the rotund little scrum-half can get any wider, unless the rookie stand-off puts in a stand-out performance today. Weepu spent the last 25 minutes against Canada in the ringmaster’s role and kicked four from four while Slade was kicking his heels on the wing.

The truth is that New Zealand could have fielded Buck Shelford at ten against Canada and still run out comfortable winners. While the same is not true for today’s encounter, Argentina are missing too many key players (Hernandez, Juan Fernandez Lobbe) to seriously trouble the Kiwis but the remaining teams in this competition are rubbing their hands together.

Much as New Zealand will miss Carter’s physical presence, his injury has undermined the leadership of the team. Henry referred to his stand-off as, “my coach on the field” and you only have to remember how lost the All Blacks looked when staring down the barrel in Cardiff four years ago to understand the importance of good leadership, especially since Richie McCaw is nursing a foot injury. Ma’a Nonu is mining a rich seam of good form at the moment but no one pretends that the wrecking ball centre is a thinking man’s second five-eighth. That leaves Conrad Smith to make the tough decisions in the backs and, thanks to the ubiquity of Carter, he has had little experience of that.

Henry is stuck with the same problem he had four years ago when Scotland infamously fielded a second team against the All Blacks at Murrayfield. Thanks to the craven attitude of the French in their pool encounter, the coach will likely lead his side into next weekend’s semi-final without having been seriously tested in this World Cup and that goes for his new stand-off. The All Blacks should win comfortably enough today but if Carter’s injury is dominating the headlines as much in the coming days as it did last week the chances are that the All Blacks’ long wait for another World Cup will only get longer.