Rugby: Foster gives Donald chance to redeem himself

Stephen Donald. Photo / Sarah Ivey

It was not difficult to feel sympathy for Stephen Donald as he slouched around the All Blacks team hotel in London late last year.

Fresh off a disastrous cameo in Hong Kong where the All Blacks lost 24-26 to the Wallabies, the likeable first five-eighth would have realised his chances of playing a meaningful role in the impending Grand Slam rested on the health of Dan Carter.

Carter stayed fit and Donald stayed mostly immobile, entrusted to just 32 minutes off the bench, 30 of them against a well-beaten Scotland side.

His search for redemption would have to wait until February 19. Tonight.

Donald is very much Ian Foster's man. Foster, entering his final season as Chiefs coach, trusts him implicitly.

While several pundits believe Bay of Plenty's sparky Mike Delany would be better suited to free up the Chiefs talented outsides, Foster has largely rejected the calls for change. With little to choose between their goalkicking, Foster clearly sees Donald as a more efficient game manager.

Donald will have to be a clinical game manager for the Chiefs to progress out of the competition's toughest conference and into the six-team playoffs.

There is a strong suspicion that the Chiefs tight five will struggle to match it with the best packs in the competition. That theory will not necessarily be put to the test tonight. The Brumbies tight five of Ben Alexander, Stephen Moore, Dan Palmer, Ben Hand and Mark Chisholm is respectable rather than formidable.

The Chiefs would be disappointed if their forwards were unable, at the very least, to lay down a solid platform for the rest to work off. In fact, with a visit to the Highlanders and a home match against the newly formed Rebels to follow, the Chiefs will hope to emulate their 2010 start when they went 3-0 on the road.

Things didn't go so smoothly thereafter, winning just one further fixture as a ludicrous injury list eroded confidence.

Donald was not immune. A calf injury forced him to miss the latter part of the Chiefs season and then he bunged his shoulder while coming back in club rugby, ruling him out of All Blacks contention.

A storming ITM Cup campaign with Waikato saw him restored to the All Blacks for his ill-fated tour. That's the Donald enigma he needs to solve.

His ability to boss the game in the NPC level is not replicated enough at Super Rugby and levels beyond.

Foster will hope that having the experienced head of Tana Umaga alongside will take Donald's game to new heights.

* In the weekend's other games, the Sharks host the Cheetahs in Durban; the Lions entertain two-time defending champions the Bulls in Johannesburg, both tomorrow morning; while the Reds play the Force in Brisbane tomorrow.