The signs are looking good for All Blacks first five Dan Carter to start against France in this weekend’s quarter-final but he admits he will not know for certain till match day.

The 25-year-old has been hampered by a calf strain, which forced him out of the final pool match against Romania, but he has been training freely with the All Blacks this week.

All Blacks coach Graham Henry has said Carter’s training would be carefully monitored ahead of the Cardiff clash because to push him too hard would be "suicidal".

"Saturday is the day I want to get it right for. I've managed it and I'll train on it this afternoon. I guess that'll be the first big test. But I'm confident I've progressed and it will be fine," Carter said before training on Wednesday.

"There will be certain parts of training today that I will really push it, the team run especially, but still other areas where I'll still be managing it through the training."

Carter says he is no longer feeling any pain in the calf.

"Earlier in the week I was still feeling it walking around, but that's gone now.

"I've had a lot of work from (muscle therapist) George Duncan and the physio ... and it's responded well to all the treatment, which is good.

"If it's the World Cup final I probably would have managed it just the same. If I did try and push it earlier in the week, I could effectively do more damage to it. Saturday's the day I want to get it right for.