Dan Carter kicked 14 points but it was not enough for Canterbury as the defending champions went down 22-19 to North Harbour in their opening Air New Zealand Cup match.
It was the New Zealand fly-half's first major outing since rupturing his Achilles while playing for Perpignan back in January.
His tactical kicking was solid and his goal kicking was a vast improvement on his efforts in his 80 minutes for his Southbridge club last weekend.
Carter kicked four of his five penalty attempts, including a long-range effort, and converted Sean Maitland's first-half try in his 64 minutes on the park.
The 27-year-old also made a couple of carries to the line and one break in the second half would have led to a simple try for Maitland had Carter's long floating pass not been slightly forward.
He showed no lingering affects from his injury and made a fine covering tackle on wing Ken Pisi and survived some solid hits from the North Harbour defenders as well.
‘I really enjoyed it out there. It was tough conditions so things were tough but just to be back playing is awesome,’ he told Sky Sports.
‘You can do all the rehab but there is nothing better than being out there playing again.’ He also felt he was not too far away from reaching the levels of fitness, agility and speed he had prior to the injury.
‘I'm happy enough to be out there playing. I have no qualms with the Achilles when I'm out there playing or training and that's the main thing.’
While both he and the All Blacks coaches have played down the possibility of a swift return to international rugby, Carter's performance will have given Graham Henry something to smile about ahead of the All Blacks' Tri-Nations clash against South Africa.
Stephen Donald and Luke McAlister have yet to really impose themselves in the All Blacks number 10 jersey and it would not be a total surprise if Carter was brought into the squad ahead of the Bledisloe Cup clash in Sydney later this month.
Carter remained coy on his chances though.
‘They were just looking forward to me getting back playing for Canterbury like I was. I don't want to look too far ahead. We'll assess things as I get a couple of games under my belt and see what happens from there.’
