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If it weren’t for the impeccable form of Piri Weepu, the All Blacks would be in deep New Zealand made yoghurt right now. Our worst nightmare realised a week ago with the unjust extraction of Dan Carter with a torn left adductor.
And then his disabled replacement Colin Slade ruled out yesterday with… a torn left adductor. Freaky.
What are the chances Aaron Cruden straps his left adductor this weekend as pure precaution?
But what comes next is the most frightening thought. That the hopes and dreams of 4-million Kiwi’s could come down to one Stephen Donald.
Not even the most discerning and insightful All Black commentator saw that coming. Including NZ Herald’s Chris Rattue, who named Donald as his No 10 in the Worst XV of King Henry’s Reign.
So mid-morning the Twittersphere went into overdrive with leaked news of the pending announcement, that the man Kiwi’s love to hate has been freshly anointed by the said coach, King Henry.
Monday madness I thought. What kind of ‘sicko’ dares introduce Waikato’s womble into a sentence featuring the hallowed words, Rugby World Cup? As it transpired, that sicko was indeed, King Henry.
The All Blacks rolled out Donald’s old coach Ian Foster to sing Stephen’s praises. A futile attempt to front-foot Donald’s announcement.
“Stephen’s got the character” Foster said. “He has taken a lot of crap unjustifiably” Foster said. Probably right on both counts.
But can the man play grand final rugby? That question remained unanswered. Not even Foster would put his neck on the line for Stephen on that one.
Donald saw the NZRU writing on the wall this year. Primarily two words, bugger off!
So he cut a track to Bath of Britain where they signed him up for three whole years as a player/mentor. No coming back from that kind of arrangement. Well, theoretically anyway.
But theory never factored in the curse of the left adductor. And now Stephen is front and centre, only a matter of days away from pulling on the skin-tight, white tipped All Black jersey. Meaning hopefully Donald hasn’t be hoeing into the donuts at Bath. We’ll soon know if he has.
So here’s where I put my neck on the line. Donald is a quality footballer, a fierce competitor. If he gets to take the field (and he probably will based on the current trend), he’ll front up.
Sure, Donald has made some epic stuff-ups in the heat of battle. But that’s exactly why he is a prime candidate to do the right things in the sudden-death stages of this tournament.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying Stephen Donald is our knight in shining armor. But the least we can do is cut the man some slack and back him the same way we’ve backed the others.
He might even surprise us. Including the 3393 dedicated members of a Facebook community page titled, “I Swear Stephen Donald Can’t Play!”
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.