But, with the Chiefs' eight All Blacks absent, coach Dave Rennie has handed the 32-year-old not only the chance to start at No 10, but to also put his leadership to good use.
Donald has registered 87 caps for the franchise he represented from 2005 to 2011 before heading overseas, with the only person boasting more being Hika Elliot, who has been named on the bench, but who Donald said would provide the pre-match words of inspiration.
"I think the boys will start trying to laugh if I tried to say anything inspirational, so no, I won't be saying too much. That's what Hika's job is," he said.
With eight players absent due to All Blacks duties, as well as Augustine Pulu (Sevens) and Shaun Stevenson (Baby Blacks) unavailable too, Dave Rennie named the 2011 World Cup hero as the fill-in leader for Sam Cane and Aaron Cruden.
There's a debut for Taranaki loose forward Mitchell Brown at blindside flanker, while his provincial team-mate, Lachlan Boshier, gets his first start for the Chiefs, on the openside.
And fellow loosie Tevita Koloamatangi is on the bench, set for his first involvement of the season, following concussion and a back injury.
The Chiefs' last outing was the 45-25 loss to the Waratahs in Sydney on May 27, with their return to Super Rugby coming in a 'home' fixture against the Crusaders in Suva on July 1.
This match will provide them with a good lead-in to that, against Wales' second-stringers and a handful from the gallant side which went down 39-21 to the All Blacks in Saturday night's first test at Eden Park.
"We're playing one of the best international teams in the world, and we saw how good they went last night [Saturday], so it's a huge challenge," Donald said.
"There's a lot of boys here that are going to get some game time that haven't had much game time this year.
"We're just excited about this big opportunity that we've got on Tuesday night and playing an international team, which the Chiefs have never done, and it's a rarity these days that there's these sorts of games on these tours."
The game at FMG Stadium will be one of firsts for the Waikato franchise - it will be the only game in the club's 20-year history they have performed a haka prior to kickoff and will also be their first game against an international touring side.
And kick-off is scheduled for 6.35pm.
The Gallagher Chiefs team to play Wales is:
1. Mitchell Graham (23)
2. Rhys Marshall (30)
3. Hiroshi Yamashita (7)
4. Dominic Bird (5)
5. Michael Allardice (17)
6. Mitchell Brown*
7. Lachlan Boshier (2)
8. Tom Sanders (9)
9. Brad Weber (36)
10. Stephen Donald (87) Captain
11. Sam Vaka (3)
12. Andrew Horrell (53)
13. Anton Lienert-Brown (18)
14. Toni Pulu (7)
15. James Lowe (31)
RESERVES:
16. Hika Elliot (98)
17. Siegfried Fisi'ihoi (5)
18. Atu Moli (5)
19. Taleni Seu (12)
20. Tevita Koloamatangi (7)
21. Kayne Hammington (6)
22. Sam McNicol (6)
23. Latu Vaeno (2)
