Donald a European Cup match-winner for Bath...

Well, well, well..not a bad start for the boy...

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/international/6003395/Donald-a-European-Cup-match-winner-for-Bath

Great first half but was pretty poor in the second. His fitness needs some work (by his own admission) and he just didn't seem to be ready for the physicality of the montpellier ball carrying.

Hi T-man, Duck did well for 50 minutes but as (FKA) Sam said, he fell off the pace second half and needs some serious conditioning work to get him up to speed.

I have to say though that he made the difference between the two sides, and as much as it's possible for one player to "win" a game, he did just that for Bath today.

I'm still not convinced he was the best 10 Bath could "buy" at the time, but so far my impression has been changed from a neutral position to a more positive one.

Hi ya PJ,
Yeah strange he's not up to it fitness wise- had time off (to whitebait) before going into the AB squad for a few days. Would have thought he'd have used the time in between more wisely though the celebrations would have taken their toll...

I suppose he can only get better but good to see from most accounts an ok start. Havnt got sky rugby channel since the world cup so arent getting the matches live now...perhaps I should get it back...was going to wait until Jan/ Feb...

There are one or two on this site[myself included]have said harsh things since Hong Kong All Blacks match.
He like many other FH wannabees in NZ committed th ultimate sin he isn`t DAN CARTER.Because there is no.one in world rugby who is Nick Evans being the nearest.
When fit is a good solid perfomer all round,and in my opinion better than Butch James.
Since hong kong he was in limbo out of AB`s 3ns/RWC squads on emergency stand by for RWC.
Not in regular training since end of S15,jet lagged and put in 2 solid performances for Bath .
At the level he is required to play at[no disrespect intended]he is more than capable of running a game.
When fully fit with Barkley outside him,given decent service he may be a great assett to Bath.

From what I've heard he had some good times in October before joining the AB squad, and then continued the good times after the win.

He looks a bit heavy (maybe as much as 7 pounds over?) and definitely fell off in the last 30 mins, although he did take a nasty (but entirely accidental) stamp on his right hand during a messy ball scramble in the second half. In all fairness to him he recovered enough to slot the 3 points that eventually separated the two sides, so he obviously has the right character.

emack, I know you didn't intend a slight, but trust me, the standard he is expected to reach at Bath is pretty damn high. I would agree with your opinion of James, he was just as likely to lose a game for Bath as win it.

Early doors for Duck, but so far so good, I'm looking forward to the Leinster clash already and feel that Leinster could be upset if Bath can replicate their first half performance today for a full 80 minutes.

Pj you may be interested to Know Stephen Donald had 23 tests,and 2 matches for the All Blacks.On the losing side 5 times scored a total of 98 points.Was First reserve to Carter until earlier this year,leading NZ super rugby scorer 2007,second highest behind Dan Carter 2008 .
Not a bad CV,and yes it was`nt meant as a slight on Bath,BUT he has played at a higher level consistently.

Thanks emack, I did check out his pedigree when he was mentioned at the back end of last season, his win-loss ratio for NZ is the stand out for me, over 20% of games on the losing side.

His Super league form never really transferred to the main stage did it?

Still, I reckon Carter would rather have his medal, terrrible shame that Carter never got one, it's a cruel world allright.

PJHolybloke wrote:Still, I reckon Carter would rather have his medal, terrrible shame that Carter never got one, it's a cruel world allright.

Carter got a medal, as did all members of the AB squad, though I am sure he wishes he could have played in the final.

Back to Donald - I think there is a danger of overhyping his performance. Overall it was a low quality match, so anyone even performing the basics would look good. He should be a good signing for Bath, but he will not turn them into a side that wins tournaments.

To be fair 2009 ,the 3 losses were the Boks, and France in a injury weakened All Black side.Only the Hong Kong Bledisloe match did he really
fail.THE RWC winning side ALL got medals,none more deserved than Carter,McCaw,and Muliana,yes they surely would all loved to play in the final
Only Ritchie on one leg made it there,irony Hosea Gear who many thought
should have started.Got one for holding the tackle bag,Piri Weepu strained his groin in warm up.
No wonder his kicking was awry,Beaver under the greatest possible pressure became an unlikely Hero.
Loved a cartoon in one of the NZ Papers[they must have been psychic].A dreamer has this dream,]Dan Carter injured in RWC Final.Penalty kick to be
taken to win it Dreamer wakes up clutching his head"Being taken by Stephen Donald !!!!"look of agony on his face.

Donald will win Bath the HC.....

Next year!

In the mean time our pack needs some serious coaching, it looks light weight to me.

How much longer will English rugby be held back by the silly salary cap rule, the clubs are businesses at the end of the day so they should be allowed to do as they will.

I think it was during the Castres-Munster game, where the commentators said that Castres had a playing budget of 15mill Euros.

So how can English clubs compete with that?

Th salary cap should be scraped and if clubs fail to manage there budgets and go bust then that's tough luck IMO.

Donald v Sexton in a couple of weeks. Should be interesting viewing.

I fancy Bath will cause an upset.

Stranger things have happened.

Thats true, who would have thought that Mr Teflon (Rob Andrew) would have managed to escape with his job yet again.

Played quite well Donald yesterday but there's something about him that looks very awkward. I don't think he's a particulary good FH tbh, very error prone.

What you will find about Duck is he has a tendency to rush things, particularly under pressure. 'Thinks' he's an 'instinctive' player (oxymoron?) when he really could focus on % rugby at times.

Beautiful pass over half the back line to provide a simple walk in try though and the track looked a bit heavy for an overweight duck to waddle through with that intercept- that would have zapped him- perhaps on a Hamilton track in April he may have got there as he is quite quick normally. (Only saw the highlights on the news though so probably looked better than he was).

Good to see him in a bouyant mood though- amazing story and comeback for one of the biggest AB scapegoats since Henry in 07.

Makes that cartoon a hilarious premonition- actually predicted the outcome months before the event-duck lining up the winning penalty in the WCup final.

Im sure I recall an Irish poster here or on bbc 606 saying he had a dream that Duck was lining up the kick in the final and then he woke up... I asked him in one post whether he finished the dream...did the kick go over?

He said "I dont know...I dont decide what goes on in my dreams (i.e.- he was serious!)"

Cracked me up...

I'm going to give him 8/9 games before I judge him in the Premiership, players with far worse overseas rugby cvs have become great Prem players.

Think he has got the skill set to succeed, but certainly looked out of fitness on Sunday. Seemed to really enjoy himself though, even chatting to the crowd, joking around after he ran out of gas on that intercept.

That miss pass was a thing of beauty, great reading of the game to see the left winger step in like that.