On the eve of the Rugby World Cup final, Dan Carter was hailed as someone who changed the mould of the fly-half while also admitting a penchant for collecting superhero costumes with his favourite The Phantom.

Saturday is likely to be Carter's final game in an All Blacks jersey as he prepares to start the next chapter of his illustrious career at Racing Metro. He will be one of five players who will be hoping to bow out on a high against their perennial rivals Australia.

Regardless of which way the result falls, it will be the game that acts as the full stop on his Test career but All Blacks coach Steve Hansen says it should not define his time in the famous silver-fern jersey.

"I don't think a guy who has played over 100 Test matches, like Dan has, his career is not defined by one game," Hansen said. "He has already defined his career as one of greatness.

"He has added to the All Black jersey in many, many ways over many, many Test matches. It is an important Test match for him and everyone involved, but it will certainly won't define his career. That has already been written in the history books."

It will be his 112th Test for New Zealand and Hansen hailed Carter as one of the game's greats and said he redefined the fly-half role.

"He's enhanced the jersey. When you start out as an All Black that's one of the greatest things you can do. If you can say 'I've improved this jersey from when I picked it up', and in his position that's a remarkable thing to be able to do if you think about [Grant] Fox, [Andrew] Mehrtens and so forth.

"When those guys left you said you couldn't replace them and a little fella from Southbridge has done that. He's done that in a nice way, he's a humble bloke. He's added a new dimension in bringing tackling. I don't think Foxy made one in his career. The modern day five-eighth has to tackle and that's his legacy. He's done that with a lot of courage.

"His goal-kicking has been great. He's also been through adversity and it'd been easy for him to walk away and say 'enough's enough' but he wanted to finish playing well and he's done that. He's in good form and he's just a normal good bloke. He's nice company."

For Carter, Saturday's game is one he hopes will bury eight years of hurt after the 2007 team was dispatched in the quarter-finals and come 2011, he was injured and missed out on the final. Ever since then, 2015 has been on his radar.

Dan Carter smiles during New Zealand's captain's run ahead of the Rugby World Cup final© Stu Forster/Getty Images

"I was pretty devastated, but I knew I had a lot to add to New Zealand rugby. That's why I signed a four-year deal immediately after that World Cup. 2012 was one of my better years; things were hugely positive. In the back of my mind, after 2011, the reason I signed a four-year deal was to give myself another chance of a World Cup.

"I was looking that far ahead. It was in the back of my mind. To be here, I just wanted to be a part of this side for this World Cup. That's what's been driving the last couple of years. To be here and achieve what we have has been great and I feel lucky to be part of such a special side."

And in one of his final press conferences as an All Black, Carter revealed an unlikely hobby -- collecting superhero costumes with his favourite The Phantom.

"There haven't been many additions over the last couple of years," Carter said. "My wife made me get rid of them all once our first baby arrived and she realised they were taking up an entire wardrobe. She wanted that room as the nursery, so I had to pass them on to a close friend of mine.

"But you're right -- I know it sounds a bit weird but Ali Williams and I, we like to dress up and so I stated a collection of pretty much every superhero costume that there is. Not sure of the original reasoning behind that, but yeah, still got a bit of a collection at my mate's house."