THROUGHOUT a long and illustrious career, there have not been many matches when Dan Carter has been outshone by his opposite number. Acknowledged as one of the greatest All Blacks ever, the stand-off generally makes running a game look easy - which is perhaps the best indication of just how exceptional a player he is.

On Saturday, however, although he did score an excellent try, Carter had to concede second best to Finn Russell as Racing 92 went down 23-14 to Glasgow in the Champions Cup. The Scot was named man of the match after contributing 13 points to his team’s tally with three penalties and two conversions, but he insisted the victory had to go down as a collective triumph.

“For me, the whole team did their jobs,” he said. “As a 10, that’s what you need.

“The forwards gave good ball and the backs were carrying well. Everyone was playing at their best and that just makes it easier for me. I got good go-forward ball to play off, so I enjoyed it.

“I think our game management was really good. We didn’t play too much in our own half and tried to keep them in theirs. The effort the boys put in out there got us the result.”

World Cup winner Dan Carter did threaten to haul Racing back into the game with a second-half score after his team had fallen 23-7 behind, but Russell’s display showed how much he has matured as a playmaker since first coming up against the New Zealander in the 2014 Autumn Tests. “I was just starting out when I first played him, and then I was in the centre here last season,” he added. “It doesn’t really matter who you come up against - you’ve got your job to do.

“He’s one of the best in the world in the position. Against him you know what he ‘s capable of and how good a player he is - you definitely have that in the back of your mind. It’s good for the confidence playing against him, but it helped that I had the team around me.”

At 34, Carter is nearing the end of his playing days, but Russell knows that the stand-off and the Racing team as a whole are capable of putting in a far better performance when they visit Scotstoun on Friday in the second pool game. “It’s a six-day turnaround, and it’s fresh in our minds where they took us on and where we had the upper hand on them. We have to remember this.

“We played well, but so did they, and they opened us up a few times. We need to look at that. We had a quick meeting in the changing rooms afterwards - what was good, what was bad and what we can work on. It’ll be tough, but we’ll do our analysis and be ready to go again.

“That’s two from three [wins] for us. It’s still open in the pool, but we have another big game [on Friday] and we have to try and win that to push up the table.”