MacDonald out of All Black squad to play England

Leon MacDonald has been forced out of the All Blacks squad.

The Crusaders fullback didn't train with the team at Mt Maunganui on Wednesday.

He failed to pass psychometric tests following a knock he took to the head in the Super 12 final. He will now undergo further tests and scans.


There has been no indication of what fullback option the All Blacks will go with, for the England test.

The options include Mils Muliaina and Doug Howlett from within the 26-man squad. Ben Blair, who is in the All Black back-up squad, is another possible option.

they need Cullen... gotta have a specialist fullback... everytime we've started without one, it's been trouble....

MacDonald should never have been in the side... I think his career is over.. if I was him, I'd retire....

yip MacDonald's a head case now, ( the guy doesn't even wear head gear )surly if you had concussion problems you'd try & protect the head more



CULLEN is the only logical answer

Just as well they found some maori heritage for Cullen.

Certainly agree that Cullen would be the logical choice. There's not much point in using Howlett there when his best position is obviously on the wing. Mills is a good player but lacks Cullens experience.

This could Cullen's lucky break. Unfortunate for MacDonald though.

I was at the game and McDonald was definitely pretty groggy when he finally got up. Its preytty irresponsible of the Abs to select him when he's not fully fit and is likely to suffer further concussions this year.

sorry to hear that McDonalds health isnt to flash.....

BUT

does this mean Cullen will get a chance ?

heres hoping !

I think he should be bought into the squad as we need specialists players against the poms.....

Mills is a great player but to throw him into a match against this england team could be a big ask ?

Did Cullen fuck John Mitchells wife or something?

MacDonald had surely had all common sense knocked out of him. Who on earth would carry on playing after getting dizzy spells a few weeks after taking a knock to the head? Hasn't he been knocked out a few times now?

He's definatly in johnny's bad books over something

Aaaaaagggggghhhhhhh!!!!!!!

I so knew they shouldn't have picked him. With the guys' history of concussion he was always gonna be a 50/50 starter, and other teams were going to target him whenever he did make the field so it's debatable whether he would've ever lasted 80 mins in a test match.

Now we don't have a specialist fullback for the first 3 tests of the year. By having to experimemnt with Howlett/Muliana/whoever, is this really going to strengthen the make up of the team going into the Tri Nations/World Cup or is it just gonna be a stop-gap measure til we can pick Cullen later on.

Mitchell/Deans, you've fucked up here before the whistle even goes for the 1st test of the year...

amen to that !

sure, Howlett is fantastic and provides good COVER for fullback but he's the best wing in the world ! thats where he HAS to start !


arrrrghhhhhhhh !

Beleive it or not, studies have shown that a mouthgaurd gives better protection against concussion than headgear.

think...Upper cut.

Mothguards are a big help but so is head gear. I've had head on head collisions while wearing head gear and they definitely took a lot of the sting out of the collision. Got hit round the temple area so was very grateful I was wearing head gear.

Definitely a good idea to weasr both a mouth guard and head gear if you are susceptible to concussions or better still retire. The later is a lot easier said than done.

totally agreed....headgear has saved me having some nasty cuts...

first time I wore it, it got covered in mud...got home and claened it, found 2 big gouges on it.

some farkin monkey was trying to write his name on my head.