NEHE Milner-Skudder may have had a record-breaking introduction to international rugby but he is still in awe of the players he is lining up against.

The winger crossed six times in the tournament and topped the charts for clean breaks (15) and metres made (561) in a stunning debut Rugby World Cup.

He has now scored eight tries in as many appearances, meaning he's scored more test tries than club and franchise tries combined.

Since 2011, the 24-year-old has played 35 times for Manawatu for three tries and just 15 times for the Hurricanes in Super Rugby scoring four times.

Making the transition from the 15 to 14 jersey has been seemless and has taken to international rugby like a duck to water.

He said: "I'm just pretty honoured to be a part of this event and to be able to put on that black jersey for a few games in the tournament.

"I'm just rapped with that and to get a few tries is pretty cool as well.

"I'm just honoured to be playing alongside some legends of the game.

"I look to my left here and here's Ma'a Nonu - that's a guy I look up to and to be out there outside him and a few of the other boys as well it's massive."

He has all the ingredients to be a superstar and in a game dominated by giants, it's refreshing to see a 5ft 9in player just tipping the 14 stone mark on the scale make such an impact.

Although you won't hear him say it.

"I'm not sure I'm a star," he said.

"But you can see world rugby is developing and the lower tier nations pushing the top tier nations.

"There are a lot of superstars out there, we've come up against a good side in the final and there were a few legends in my team as well.

"Rugby is full of superstars at the moment."

As for the final itself - in which he grabbed a first-half try - he was not too sure where it was won or lost.

Milner-Skudder said: "That's a good question - I guess we scored more points than them.

"But full credit to Aussie, I thought they battled back well in the second half and they put us under the pump a bit.

"Thankfully the boys came through in the end."

Australia managed to get back into the game at 21-17 having trailed by 18 points and Milner-Skudder said it was the experienced members of the squad who made sure the panic button was not pressed.

He said: "We just tried to be positive and there's a lot of belief in the squad with the older guys.

"The skipper brought us together and just told us to focus on the next job at hand not to get too ahead of ourselves and play our game."

One of those stalwarts was Dan Carter - named World Rugby Player of the Year on Sunday - who nailed a 40m dropgoal and a 50m plus penalty to ease the All Blacks to a 34-17 win.

Milner-Skudder said: "He's a class player, isn't he?

"He really stepped up and hit a really vital dropgoal from 40m out and it definitely helped."