So, Aaron Cruden, not to get ahead of ourselves or anything, but were New Zealand to fulfil all predictions by winning the Rugby World Cup on Sunday, would you be looking forward to usurping Dan Carter's starring role as a poster boy for underpants? "Ah, I don't think so," the young fly-half said. "I think I'll leave Dan to keep doing that. But hopefully next week we'll be able to call ourselves world champions."
The impressive physique of Carter, the injured superstar whose No10 shirt Cruden will wear, is to be seen on the sides of office blocks, posing in briefs. It turns out, according to Cruden, that he is almost as ubiquitous in the team's hotel in downtown Auckland. "Dan's always floating around and he's been really positive, always smiling and laughing with the boys. He sent me a text before the semi-final, wishing me all the best. I'll definitely be going to him and asking what he thinks about certain things and picking his brains so that I can be as well prepared as I can be come kick-off time on Sunday."
It turns out that the preparation of Aaron Cruden for life as an All Black started a year ago, when he was left out of the end-of-season trip to Europe a few months after making his debut as a replacement for Carter against Ireland. "That's the thing that has really impressed me," Wayne Smith, the All Blacks' backs coach, said on Wednesday. "We left him out of that tour for a reason, and we were pretty clear about it. He went away and worked, and we've seen the difference here."
The instruction was to go away and refine his kicking game. "There's been a big improvement there, particularly in his ability to dominate a game through kicking," Smith said. "Like it or not, every All Black five-eighth needs that ability, and he's gone and developed it through a lot of hard work."
He developed it so well, in fact, that having called him up when Carter withdrew from the tournament with a torn groin muscle on the eve of the final pool match, the coaches had few qualms about slotting him into the starting XV when the original replacement, Colin Slade, also suffered a groin injury during the quarter-final against Argentina. The semi-final meeting with Australia – a match of the highest pressure – was only Cruden's second start in the All Black shirt.
At 22, he is young enough to have been out skateboarding when he got the call to join the squad, plans for a visit to Disneyland had to be cancelled.
Mounted on the wall of the team room at New Zealand's hotel is a sign bearing the words HONOUR THROUGH RECAPTURE, a reminder to the players that the Webb Ellis Cup has merely been out on loan since the All Blacks won the inaugural tournament in 1987. Cruden was 18 months away from being born when David Kirk held up the trophy at Eden Park. "I've seen highlights from that game," he said. "It's pretty special. Hopefully it'll be the same on Sunday night."
Like Kirk – and another great All Black, Christian Cullen, as well as Madge Allsop, Dame Edna Everage's sidekick – he is a native of Palmerston North, a North Island town where he played in the provincial championship for Manawatu Turbos, the club his father used to captain, as well as for the Wellington-based Hurricanes in the Super 15.
A outbreak of tuberculosis at his school cost him a place in the New Zealand secondary schools team, but a more serious interruption occurred when he was 19. Having spotted an unusual lump in the groin area, he took himself off to the doctor, who at the first time of asking said there was nothing to worry about. A few months later, still worried, he went back and was given tests which revealed the presence of a tumour. Five days after playing for Manawatu in an important Ranfurly Shield match against Auckland, he underwent surgery to remove a testicle, only to discover that three sustained bouts of chemotherapy over a six-month period would be required to eradicate the cancerous growth.
"I suppose I've had a few experiences in my life that I've been able to draw strength from," he reflected. "This is just going to be another fantastic experience on Sunday night – something that I dreamed about as a little fellow and something that I'm very excited about."
What impressed neutrals in Sunday's semi-final defeat of the Wallabies was Cruden's calmness: not just the way he slotted perfectly into a dynamic back division, but his ability to put the occasional error – an overthrown pass, a missed penalty – behind him. "I just knew I had a job to do out there. From one to 15, we focus on doing our jobs to the best of our ability and then the rest of it will take care of itself. It was a really pleasing team performance. Even the reserves that were given a chance made an impact, and it was good to see."
And does he think that he is a better player now than when he was left out of the touring party a year ago? "I'd probably like to say 'no', but maybe I've just added to it a little bit. There are areas of my game they wanted me to work on, so I've done that, and hopefully they've become part of my natural game now. I'm just humbled and blessed to be back in the squad and given this opportunity."
After the World Cup he will be meeting up again with Wayne Smith, whose eight-year stint with the All Blacks ends on Sunday night. He will be taking over as head coach of the Hamilton-based Chiefs, the club Cruden is due to join in January.
"He tells you to go out there and back yourself," Cruden said, "not go into your shell like some players might do in the Test arena. He really gives you that confidence to go out and express yourself and be the player that you are, because that's why you were picked. That's what he's done for me in the last couple of matches."
According to Smith, composure has always been one of Cruden's assets. "He's had bigger challenges in his life than this, and he's bringing that courage and ability to handle pressure through into this role. He's a pretty special kid, I think."
