Stephen Donald

WTF.

Hang on, I'm just gonna chip kick the answer to you pstu.

needs a bullet

Why don't you punt it down the middle when times nearly up?

How can it be one guy's fault when the other 21 players in the team didn't give a bigger lead?

http://www.greenandgoldrugby.com/the-man-from-waiuku-river-an-ode-to-stephen-donald/


LOL

Really guys?
Now, I don't believe that the whole "you aren't an all black therefore you can't criticise" is valid logically.

However, Stephen Donald is in the top 1% of his profession in the world.
If you guys think it's fair to criticise him, which is true - you dont need to be a rugby player to criticise a rugby player - you should also see that it's equitable to be criticised yourself. Now, as i understand, none of us are in the top 1% of our profession in the world, so we're obviously not as good at our jobs as Stephen Donald is at his. So we'd get much, much more criticism. Right?

Just kick the fucken goal you utter, utter cunt.

If he's our backup for the WC, we're fucked.



gc.

If Weepu wasn't injured would he have been DC's backup?

Not at 10 I don't think.



gc.

He's played at 10 heaps for Wellington and the Hurricanes. He was playing 10 for Wellington when he broke his leg ...and I'm sure he'd be far better than Donald.

Piri Weepu is more than capable of covering at 10 and has done so before.

Graham Henry's selection of Stephen Donald has already proven to be a complete failure. Fuck!

Meh I know that he can/does play 10, I just don't think he would have been picked in that position. They still would have picked Donald.



gc.

Should be Slade in there IMO

Oh yeah for sure. He is by far the best choice after Carter. Hopefully he performs well in the final. Henry will not send Donald back, unless he gets injured.

Will be interesting to see how Anscombe tracks over the next 11 months. Lotta talent there.



gc.

Slade's 6ft and 90kg compared to Donald 6ft 3in and 98kg.

Slade should've been there, but hopefully he can beef up a bit before next season to make him less of a target.

Slade doesn't need to "beef up". In fact a good rugby player doesn't need to be big playing in the backs these days. It's a myth.

Smf, totally agree with you. He's a Ponsonby boy, but I never played along side him cause I've been out of Prems for the past few years. However from what I've seen on club level when I went to watch their games as well as his games for Auckland, he's definitely a very promising player. Auckland/Blues are looking better for 1st 5/8s in the couple of years, if not sooner.

I tihnk being a small outside back is probably a liability but there's no need for halves to be big at all

Yeah, you're right to a certain point. Like a center should be your biggest player in the backline I reckon. Wing/fullback and 2nd 5/8 are fine around 85-90 kgs.

Given his reluctance to select Piri at half back when he was clearly the best, I'd have serious doubts that Henry would pick him at 1st 5.

I think we have all seen that the gulf betwen NPC and International is enormous,so I think they would be right to not consider Piri @ 10 unless he ends up there as the 3rd option via injuries

it's a no-brainer, last time Donald was booted out of the All Blacks, that was when the team started winning again

Henry is deluded when it comes to his "pet" players - lacks objectivity

Wrong.
When Auckland wins NPCs, NZ does well at international level
causal relation

wot

I dunno why you have ti put NPC rugby on some sort of pedastal it doesnt deserve.

3RD_RATE_COMP vadz

You seem to be stuck in a late 80's/early 90's timewarp.

Yeah cos Auckland hasnt won an NPC since the early 1990s right?

ahahaha you *must* be trolling Vadz?

You say the most ridiculous things in the sports forum

My point is that there is a DIRECT correlation between Auckland success and All Blacks success

go run the numbers and come back to me.

That was Stephen Donald's last chance. He has been tried and found wanting on multiple occasions now at All Black level. The selctors know in their hearts he is no good - they have tried and discarded practically every first five in the super franchises over the past few seasons in their desperate search for a half decent back up to Carter. So far, they seem to feel theyve found no one and therefore seem to have concluded Donald is the only one of the bad bunch who even remotely approaches half decent.

Cruden is simply to small. Any 100kg+ forward would make a bee line straight at him every time with the ball in hand. In the tight games his size on defense would tell to much against him.

My personal view is Henry HATES defending a poor performance and for all the public rhetoric this is likely to be Donald's last All Black tour if anyone at all steps up next super 15 season ahead of the RWC. Colin Slade, Mike Delany and - here is my bolter - Gareth Anscombe have a lot to play for, because Carter's backup position is still wide open.

Regardless, it has NOTHING to do with what Maestro was talking about...

Maestro: An individual's NPC performance != a reliable indicator of success at test level

Vadz: AUCKLAND!!!!!!!

:>

Second best 1st five? How about Nick Evans ...oh, that's right. They don't like picking the best players in rugby.

There was movement on the sidelines, for the word had got around
Replacement fly-half Stephen Donald was soon to take the ground
The game was all-but over, the Darkness held the lead
The Wallabies were clearly shagged, it was time to about concede.
The Men-in-Gold were down by 12 and it had all been seen before
Sookface had just come on, as Gits was shown the door.
But just when all seemed hopeless and the only outcome was defeat
The Man from Waiuku River rose ungainly to his feet.
His warm-up on the sideline was something of a farce
He’s not very good at kicking, and he can hardly fucking pass
When Smug Ted dragged Dan Carter, ‘cause his ankle was near shot
The look on Richie’s face said “Ol’ Ted’s lost the fucking plot”
For DC on one leg is a better bet than Waiuku River’s two
Anyone who’d seen him butcher things for Mooloo, knew what he would do
So the Man from Waiuku River did stumble on into the line
And it was only seconds later, the sun began to shine
Gilbert ran the Gilbert with style, poise and grace
He timed a sweet ball to Shmoo, who had far too much pace
It was 24-19 as the conversion sailed over from near the 3rd row
Rocky gathered the boys’ round “With Donald on lads, we’ve got a fucking show!”
On the Man from Waiuku River did bungle, not stopping to draw breath
He even had a chance at a penalty goal to win it at the death.
But for those who know him best, it was always going to shank
He’s just so God-damn gawky; he’s like a fucking plank.
But still our Man kept plodding, he wasn’t done with yet
There was still one more balls-up, as bad as it could get
For the Man from Waiuku River, again had the ball in his hands
And to win the game he had to only kick it to the stands
But alas he stuffed the kick and downfield the ball did soar
You could almost hear O’Conner shout “Fuck me dead, I’m gonna score!”
And so he did just that, young O’Conner was now the hero
On the other side The Man from Waiuku River, a freshly minted zero
The Wallabies went wild, and the crowd they pissed it up
“Stick the 10 straight up your arse”, they screamed – they even won a Cup
And down by Waiuku Riverside, where the youngsters dream of greatness
They should remember their Stephen Donald, is completely fucking hopeless

Whilst the criticism of Donald is warranted, nobody is mentioning the fact Toeava missed 2 tackles and the wallabies scored 2 tries. Cant blame Donald for the fact we lost. Its a team game, and the team lost.

Still - if O'Connor can kick the goal under that kind of pressure, then why can't Donald? He just can't perform under pressure.



gc.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/all-blacks/4323010/Stephen-Donald-denies-All-Blacks-doubts

Really? From inside your own 22 when you're hard on defence don't you kick for touch. Let your men regather themselves and reset positions from a set play no matter what point it is in the game?

so according to that article Donald rates himself as still a "pretty good rugby player" - way to miss the point dude. since when was "pretty good" enough to be in the All Blacks??

Didn't even get a Super Contract.....

Gutted! Who will play 10 for the Blues?



gc.

Brett?

... since SBW was an AB?
... since Daryl Gibson
... Aaran Pene
... Simon Mannix

Need I go on? Stephen Donald =winner. E/F/T

You fail to understand that collective success COMES from individual ability.

And if we can't use NPC performance, what can we use?

If I have 5 applicants for a job, I can only use their PAST SUCCESSES.

Fuck this guy is shit. He doesn't even man up and take responsibility and admit his mistakes.

Beale being a handy footballer doesn't cover up your fucking useless decision making or shite execution, and the fact you lost us the game. Toeava wouldnt have missed the tackle if the ball had gone out.

But meh, he is gone after this tour. He has proven that he doesn't have the ability to play at international level. Everyone knows this.

Yeah him and Berquist.

??

Berquist is in the Crusaders Squad.....

is he? My bad. I haven't seen the Super squads yet. I assumed he will be in the Blues due to him being in Auckland team. Who's Brett's back up 1st 5?

Nevermind, I just looked up and it's Lachie Munro. lol

Nice acquisition of Jared Payne tho. Very handy player to have imo.

LOL at this thread

Roger that

Hi Stephen

hahaha

times change!

11 mths ago



attn gummi bear

Yea, what a legend - shaved the upright from out infront to win us the RWC.

Fuck I reckon... all this Donald love at the moment is fkn bizarre tbh

Thank god, I thought I was the only one... he kicked a single penalty !

And he made 14 tackles (no misses) & some deac metres in a line break. But yeah... The point is people see him as being the shit man who came good by sealing us the world cup victory which is pretty much true. Credit where its due. Well done SD

he actually played pretty damned well irregardless of the penalty. despite everything which has been said about him, he came on, appeared to be super confident and did his job.

he has always been a decent player.

agreed codpeice
tho my post was in jest

does anyone remember the chiefs super 14 backline in 2009 or so? when they made the final...donald was the first five then...

Not in the Black Jersey...

I wuvz the soud of words being eaten