30 Oct 2008

Carter accepts backseat role for All Blacks

8:49 am on 30 October 2008

Dan Carter admits he will have to "pull back" from running the show after being shunted to the centres for the All Blacks' Bledisloe Cup clash with the Wallabies in Hong Kong on Saturday night.

In a bigselection gamble,the All Blacks coach Graham Henry will start Stephen Donald at first-five with Carter outside him.

Theworld's leading pivot concedes the "surreal" move requires both a mental and physical adjustment.

Long accustomed to being New Zealand's chief playmaker, Carter says it will be a new challenge allowing Donald to call the shots .

But he says Donald's shown he's more than capable of doing it and he'll try to make the job as easy as he can for him.

And Carter says he won't shirk his responsibilities if Donald called a play requiring him to "crash" the ball into the Wallabies' midfield defence, one of the prime requirements a second-five.