All Blacks: Burden of filling Dan's boots

Inexperience makes Stephen Donald look a very programmed player. Photo / Getty Images

Stephen Donald will always have a problem.

He will always be compared with Daniel Carter, who is convalescing before his anticipated return to the black jersey towards the end of the year or even for the Tri-Nations.

Then there is the looming presence of Luke McAlister, an All Black for several years under Graham Henry, something of a project and someone the coach dearly wanted to return as quickly as possible to the national colours after his sojourn at Sale.

That opportunity came much quicker than anyone had expected, with Richard Kahui out for the season and then Conrad Smith tweaking a hamstring - twin dramas which allowed the selectors to recall McAlister to the senior group.

Suddenly there was more heat on Donald, that peripheral pressure where he would have felt every move was far more scrutinised.

Donald is not the sort of bloke to offer that excuse, or indeed any, for his work in the All Black jersey. He is a down-to-earth, hard-working player who gives his best in whatever jersey drapes his frame.

He has played 11 tests and falls into the category of mixed All Blacks five-eighths. Since the 1987 World Cup triumph, the side has been served by an array of classy five-eighths.

Grant Fox, Andrew Mehrtens and Carter stand apart from others such as Stephen Bachop, Simon Mannix and Marc Ellis. At this stage of his test career, Donald's production falls towards the lower division.

In the first test of the season at Dunedin, he suffered because of the inadequacies of the pack and subsequent slow service. It seemed the ball and French defenders arrived on Donald about the same time.

On Saturday at the Cake Tin he brought his mixed bag of skills in very testing conditions. His tactical kicking was erratic, his goalkicking poor, as he admitted he was unsure how the wind would affect his attempts. His general play was steady at best.

"I thought he fronted up," backline coach Wayne Smith said. "All in all, I think he will be reasonably happy."

Smith was being protective of his All Black five-eighths, perhaps remembering his own time in the black jersey.

It is tough because Donald falls into the "bloody good bloke" category. He does, however, look a very programmed player. He has a manufactured kicking style and because of his inexperience looks as though he plays by numbers and to instructions.

The question about whether he will be retained this week against Italy in Christchurch may be immaterial. When he kicked his last penalty, Donald also strained his hamstring and was not optimistic he would be fit for this Saturday.

It had been a tough old test match against France, one where the All Blacks had to hang tough and wait for their opportunities.

"It was certainly a step up from last week and a proud performance, I'd say.

"It was not a hard, fast track, but being a realist at this time of year in New Zealand you are going to get those sorts of conditions, so you have just got to deal with them and your expansive play is sort of a non-event," Donald said.

He felt more settled in the build-up to this test than he had before the season-opener in Dunedin. There were mistakes, but it was another week and another step forward, and the All Blacks had worn France down, so they could afford to be happy. It had taken some time, and they never really felt they they had shaken off the visitors.

Seeing replays of the 1994 series which the French had won 2-0, had not helped in the buildup.

"You can never relax and you always thought there would be another twist to this game, and until we got outside that seven point buffer, I didn't think we were ever going to feel relaxed," Donald said.

The whole week had been a real introduction into what it meant to be an All Black and what sort of acid comes on, what was expected. Donald felt the team learned a fair bit about themselves.

"You guys know how much scrutiny was on the boys and how much acid was on, so it was a positive we came out the other side."

He had not taken too much notice of media or public scrutiny after Dunedin but was determined, like his teammates, to increase their physical impact at Wellington.

"It was just another game of footy but one we had to front up at," he said. "I think I have learned now you just have to shut off the world when you get in this sort of scenario. You have just got to go from week to week.

"I mean the worst thing was probably living with yourself for the last week. It has been a tough old week for us since Dunedin, and that's probably the worst. The boys are their own harshest critics so I don't think too much affected them."

The All Blacks wanted to turn France around and when they did that, the visitors' speed on defence was not as sharp and that offered other areas to attack.

Conditions meant there had been a great deal of kicking, and that had been a team strategy. It would have been silly to have tried to play too much running rugby.