Three-time World Rugby Player of the Year Dan Carter showed Saturday he still has the hunger and skill to add to an already brimming trophy cabinet.

The former All Black helped engineer Kobe Kobelco Steelers' 55-5 Top League final win over Suntory Sungoliath, as the team from Kansai picked up their first title since 2003-2004.

"He will go down in history as one of the game's greatest players," Kobe coach Dave Dillon said of Carter, who has won two French Top 14 championships, three Super Rugby titles, nine Tri-Nations/Rugby Championships and two Rugby World Cups.

"He came into the group motivated, wanted to get better and wanted to add value."

And while Carter may not have been as productive points-wise as in earlier games this season -- he entered the game having scored 148 points in seven games, including seven tries, while averaging 87.5 percent with the boot -- he was just as influential.

His steadying influence and ability to stick to the game plan ensured Kobe never looked in danger of losing from the moment Fraser Anderson crossed from a Carter pass in the third minute.

"We knew Suntory are a dangerous team with ball in hand and we wanted to starve them of the ball," Carter said. "We knew if we could build phases we could break the opposition and in those first three minutes, to go phase after phase, gave us so much self-belief."

And it was that self-belief that Carter had spent so much time working on with his teammates.

"Some of the guys hadn't played finals rugby and were asking me, Adam Ashley-Cooper and Andy Ellis what the secret was," he explained.

"We just told them to trust in what we've done. There's no secret recipe. The reason we were in the final was because of the good rugby we've played and the hard work done during the season. You just need to back yourself and trust the work you have done and the rest of the game takes care of itself."

Facing a strong northerly wind in the first half, Carter and the Steelers employed a passing game from the start.

Playing very flat on the line, Carter went on to make 31 passes in the half, kicking just twice -- both times for touch after penalties.

Defensively he was also sound, making five tackles and even a little block off the ball after making a pass, showing there are few tricks outside his repertoire.

With four tries in the first 17 minutes of the second half ensuring there was no way back for Suntory, Carter, who had taken a few knocks, left the field in the 67th minute to rapturous applause.

He finished with 13 points to his name, having made 36 passes and all six tackles he attempted.

But his influence was far greater. "The amazing tries," as he described them, were down to his team's ability to follow their flyhalf and the game plan to the letter.

A photo of the late Seiji Hirao -- Japan and Kobe's great playmaker of the 1980s and 90s -- was on the Steelers' bench looking over proceedings and Carter said the win was very much for men like Hirao.

"We did this for the wider group of players who didn't play today, for the management and for the past Kobe Steel players. This was a performance and season we can be proud of," he said.