Magna Carter: The All Blacks' magnificent No 10

As much as Danny Cipriani wanted to start against the All Blacks at Twickenham on Saturday, he can take comfort from the fact that he will not be fully exposed to Daniel Carter. Cipriani's secondary role as an England replacement – he is expected to put in an appearance at some point – will give him a chance to study the game of a player who sets the benchmark in the pivotal world of the No 10.

If Cipriani was crestfallen at losing his place to Toby Flood following a dismal performance in the record defeat to South Africa last weekend, Carter also sounded a bit put out. In terms of character, he and Cipriani are poles apart. The New Zealand matchwinner, who is aiming to complete a grand slam over the home nations before joining Perpignan, doesn't get photographed in nightclubs and he doesn't get whacked by team-mates at training sessions.

Cipriani's reputation had preceded him and Carter, who has a five-year start on the Wasp, had done his homework on the 21-year-old Englishman. "At the start of the week I thought I'd be playing against Cipriani," Carter said. "It would have been good to meet an up-and-coming young player but, sadly, that's not the case. I'll have to change my research to Toby Flood and analyse his game."

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How come Carter, who has a much higher global profile and has been voted New Zealand's sexiest man, doesn't get the tabloid treatment?

"Players get a lot of attention over here but in New Zealand, once you're off the field, they tend to leave you alone. I'm very lucky. I pride myself on being able to focus 100 per cent. It's a question of finding the right balance. I enjoy life outside rugby."

He is softly spoken, almost shy, and infuriatingly modest for a player who may be the nearest thing to the perfect 10.

On the field there is almost nothing he can't do, whether it's creating or scoring tries, or amassing points in Jonny Wilkinson fashion. Naturally left-footed, he spends so much time in goal-kicking practice he is almost as gifted with his right boot. While the other All Blacks were meeting the Queen on Tuesday, Carter was kicking rugby ball after rugby ball.

"Dan gets his confidence from the knowledge that he does his work," Wayne Smith, the All Blacks backs coach, said. "The thing about him is that he never takes short cuts." For his eighth birthday his father Neville, a builder who played stand-off for Canterbury County, bought the prodigy a full-size set of goalposts. Daniel William Carter, whose girlfriend Honor Dillon plays hockey for the New Zealand Black Sticks, almost sounds too good to be true.

How many points will the All Blacks beat England on Saturday 28th November?

A product of Christchurch Boys' High School, he was the top scorer at the 2002 Under-21 World Cup in South Africa. He began his professional career at second five-eighth, or centre, for the Canterbury Crusaders in 2003, playing outside Andrew Mehrtens, and the same year, at the age of 21, made his All Blacks debut against Wales. He scored 20 points.

He was good enough to replace the flamboyant Carlos Spencer on New Zealand's tour of the UK and France in 2004 and the following year he made life hell for the touring Lions. In the second Test alone he contributed 33 points with two tries, four conversions and five penalties, and that season was named the International Rugby Board's Player of the Year. In 2006, he scored a record 221 points in one season for the Crusaders.

In international rugby his average is a remarkably high 15 points a match (it would be more but he's usually given a breather before the end) and his record against England is particularly impressive. New Zealand have won all six matches Carter has started against the red-rose brigade and his contribution in those games is 120 points. England's total is 86 points. There is, of course, a glaring omission from the CV. The little matter of the world's greatest team failing to win the World Cup (they haven't done so since winning the inaugural one, in New Zealand, in 1987) after being beaten by an inspired France in the quarter-finals in Cardiff last autumn. "Last year was a bit of a disappointment," Carter said. That is the biggest understatement since Sir Edmund Hillary announced he'd "knocked the bugger off" after becoming the first man to conquer Mount Everest. Carter limped off in the second half against France and the suspicion is that he went into the match carrying an injury.

Having defeated allcomers on this tour, which began with a victory over Australia in Hong Kong, the All Blacks are putting great store by completing a slam of the four home countries and, just to give them added incentive, at Twickenham they will be playing for the Hillary Shield, a new trophy honouring the late Sir Edmund.

"Sir Edmund is a hero to all New Zealanders, including this All Blacks team," Graham Henry, the coach, said. "And the fact that we are playing for the Hillary Shield for the first time will give the Test an extra edge." England, clearly, have their own Everest to climb.

Henry ventured the opinion that Richie McCaw, his captain and open-side dynamo, is the best player in the world. Where on earth does that leave Carter? For obvious reasons Henry has a soft spot for McCaw who, even by the great standards of New Zealand back-row play, is exceptionally effective.

Like many of his contemporaries, McCaw could have accepted a lucrative offer to play outside New Zealand but chose to stay put. "If I had left, it wouldn't have taken me long to realise what I was missing," he said. He has signed up to lead the All Black assault on home territory in the 2011 World Cup and, if they don't knock that one off, then heaven help them.

Carter, on the other hand, has broken ranks and rewritten the rule book. All Blacks who left the North and South Islands in search of greener pastures were considered persona non grata when it came to Test selection. Carter's six-month signing for Perpignan, for anything up to £30,000 a game, is uniquely described as a "sabbatical". He will miss the Super 14 but will return in time for next season's Tri-Nations. The deal will not be repeated.

On Tuesday Henry said: "There's a million players in England, 140,000 in New Zealand. If you fill up the Premiership with Kiwis, the national side here [in England] is going to suffer." Carter's name was linked with Northampton, Cardiff, Toulouse and Toulon (the former All Black captain Tana Umaga is the coach) before he chose to take the Perpignan euro, which is estimated at 700,000.

You might have thought the world was his bluff oyster. "Not that many clubs wanted me," Carter said. "Seriously, there were only one or two. I love the south of France and I spoke to a lot of players before making my decision. I wanted a completely new challenge with a club where I can enjoy the French culture. I've been trying to learn the language on my iPod but it hasn't been going too well." Toulon offered him more money but they haven't qualified for the Heineken Cup. Perpignan have.

"That swayed my decision," Carter said. "We hear a lot about the strengths and weaknesses of European competitions and how they compare to the Super 14. I want to test myself against the best Europe has to offer." After Twickenham he will join Perpignan, where his first week will be a round of promotional events.

First though, England. "Going into this tour I hadn't played for six weeks so winning the slam would mean a huge amount to me and the side, which contains a lot of new faces. We had two losses in the Tri-Nations and fought back to win it and this would round off a great season."

Carter in numbers

1,034 Carter is the 1,034th man to represent New Zealand.

7 defeats The All Blacks have won 51 of the 58 matches Carter has played. It was 14 games before he tasted international defeat

862 points Scored for NZ, including 25 tries but just two drop goals.

4 tries Scored against England in six games, all NZ wins.

35.7% Winning votes he received for "Sexiest NZ Male" in 2005.

25 tries Scored in 69 matches for Crusaders, his club team.