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Get your bets in for the All Black Squad for the june tests
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<blockquote data-quote="Larksea" data-source="post: 508568" data-attributes="member: 43875"><p>well I think you also tend to exaggerate so maybe the truth lies somewhere in the middle. he did knock his first touch on but when he was tested again and again he had no problems. Overall I think he had a solid debut, and importantly hes a much better player now than he was then.</p><p></p><p>you say: "Stephen Donald has ALWAYS been criticised" but is that his fault or a fickle section of the NZ public who never gave him a chance and looked for every excuse to hang him out to dry even after he played an important role in winning some key test matches. in the end he proved all the haters wrong with his pretty much faultless 50min in that final. If the NZ public had got behind Donald from the start and not been so critical of him during times he struggled his test carrier would have been much different in my view. It would have been hard enough trying to fill the hardest job in NZ rugby (Dan the man Carters backup and the guy who runs opposition backline play in All Black training)</p><p></p><p>That game in 2010 was a perfect example, sure Donald did not have a great performance but in that last period he was on Brad Thorn missed an easy tackle that gave Aussie field position, from memory an AB prop (Afoa?) made a bad mistake and that clearing kick donald did make that he got so much crap for would have been a very good kick if Toeava had stayed in line with the defense and not tried to run up and tackle Beale 1 on 1 which he was never going to make. Then if you nit pick even more Kaino and another player missed the tackle on James when he scored. Fact is if he did make a couple of mistakes that lead to the loss he was clearly not the only one - yet he was the one to take all the blame in the eyes of most of the NZ public and media.</p><p></p><p>Yet Weepu has an even worse shocker in more than one game and he's somehow immune to backlash in many circles? He was lucky unlike donald in hong Kong that his team mates stood up and made up for those mistakes. Though I'm sure if we had lost that game the public would have found some way to dump it all on donald <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Larksea, post: 508568, member: 43875"] well I think you also tend to exaggerate so maybe the truth lies somewhere in the middle. he did knock his first touch on but when he was tested again and again he had no problems. Overall I think he had a solid debut, and importantly hes a much better player now than he was then. you say: "Stephen Donald has ALWAYS been criticised" but is that his fault or a fickle section of the NZ public who never gave him a chance and looked for every excuse to hang him out to dry even after he played an important role in winning some key test matches. in the end he proved all the haters wrong with his pretty much faultless 50min in that final. If the NZ public had got behind Donald from the start and not been so critical of him during times he struggled his test carrier would have been much different in my view. It would have been hard enough trying to fill the hardest job in NZ rugby (Dan the man Carters backup and the guy who runs opposition backline play in All Black training) That game in 2010 was a perfect example, sure Donald did not have a great performance but in that last period he was on Brad Thorn missed an easy tackle that gave Aussie field position, from memory an AB prop (Afoa?) made a bad mistake and that clearing kick donald did make that he got so much crap for would have been a very good kick if Toeava had stayed in line with the defense and not tried to run up and tackle Beale 1 on 1 which he was never going to make. Then if you nit pick even more Kaino and another player missed the tackle on James when he scored. Fact is if he did make a couple of mistakes that lead to the loss he was clearly not the only one - yet he was the one to take all the blame in the eyes of most of the NZ public and media. Yet Weepu has an even worse shocker in more than one game and he's somehow immune to backlash in many circles? He was lucky unlike donald in hong Kong that his team mates stood up and made up for those mistakes. Though I'm sure if we had lost that game the public would have found some way to dump it all on donald :) [/QUOTE]
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Get your bets in for the All Black Squad for the june tests
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