Carter at brilliant best in leading All Blacks to final

The booing was just starting to get louder when Dan Carter finally moved, swung his left boot, and struck the conversion between the posts.

Given a second chance to convert Jerome Kaino's early try after South Africa winger Bryan Habana sprinted out to attempt a charge-down too early, Carter took his sweet time hard up against the far right touchline. The cheers from New Zealand fans drowned out the booing before the touch judges' flags went up. Seemingly not so significant at the time, his 290th career conversion turned out to be critical after New Zealand beat South Africa 20-18 in the Rugby World Cup semifinals on Saturday.

"It was a pretty important kick looking back now," he said.