Donald only got ~23 caps.
How many times did he warm the bench without getting on the park?
... he was much better than he ever got credit for
Not at AB level.
He was consistently excellent for Waikato but he never brought that quality to the AB's.
He struggled to cope with the pace of the game, his game management was average and his running game was limited. It was primarily his consistent place kicking that kept him in the picture and to be fair his defence was above average.
He got loads of chances and ok he was up against DC for a starting spot, but you still have to make a fist of it when you get a chance and the drop in quality was eye opening to NZ er's outside of the Waikato.
When he was dropped it was a shame because they persisted with him for so long it became a costly experiment.
...and he had the hardest job in the world being compared to the best 10 the game has ever seen.
Norm Hewitt faced a much longer and less fruitful task being understudy to Fitzy. He did it for years and when he got his chances, on those rare occasions, he didn't look or feel like he was out of his depth.
He had some excellent performances in 2008 where he came off bench a few times when the AB's were down to produce some critical plays to win games.
Even a broken clock is correct twice a day. One swallow doesn't make a summer.
I just dont think Donald gets a fair deal.
I think everybody respects him as a champion for Waikato. He earned his AB call up on form for Waikato.
He just didn't cut it at the top level for the AB's, which was a shame because he was a likeable fella off the park, we all wanted him to succeed, he just wasn't good enough.
However, everybody will cherish the great rugby story of his comeback from fishing on the river, to putting on his boots for the RWC final and kicking what proved to be the winning points.
