Carter or Cruden?
To play Dan Carter or Aaron Cruden? It should be an easy question to answer. However, it is a rather tricky poser for All Black coach Steve Hansen.
New Zealand's most prolific flyhalf, Carter, won't return from injury for another month. However, when he does he may not be a certain starter.
Cruden's impressive form in the record (51-20) demolition of the Wallabies at the weekend means the All Black mentor, Hansen, is in no hurry to rush Carter back.
In fact his first appearance in the Rugby Championships, after he fractured his leg in the Super Rugby Final, won't be until the All Blacks embark on their Argentinean and South African road trips at the end of next month.
Hansen says Carter will remain in camp with the squad throughout his recovery.
"He'll be with us, but he won't be available to play for us until probably the week of the Argentina away game. But we're not going to rush that either. We want to make sure that he's right to play and if he's not right we won't do that," Hansen said.
Even more telling is the plaudits heaped on Cruden, following what has been described as his best Test for the All Blacks – against the Wallabies at the weekend.
"It was [his best Test] in the fact that he stood up and drove the game," Hansen told a media gathering in Auckland.
"He played what was in front of him and helped our structures along the way.
"When you compare with what happened the previous week [the 12-all draw in Sydney], he'd be very happy with how he played," the coach added.
There was further plaudits from New Zealand's backline coach Ian Foster.
"The big thing for him [Cruden] is he learnt a lot of lessons from the previous week [the 12-all draw in Sydney] and that was what I was really pleased with.
"He sat back a little the previous week and let the game unfold, without taking control of it.
"He learnt those lessons and the fact that he applied those lessons was fantastic."
Cruden was clearly chuffed to hear the head coach had been singing his praises to the gathered media at a post-match press conference, but wasn't getting carried away with the accolade.
"I'm pretty happy with how I went, but I still know I can sharpen up in a lot of areas and still be even better than that," Cruden said.
"But that's pretty nice to hear that coming from your head coach and for me I just wanted to get out there, play my natural game and get the ball in hand a little bit.
"The forwards set the platform and just really allowed me to do that."
Additional reporting: Fairfax Media
