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Stephen Donald eludes a tackler - Source: Reuters -
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After his performances in the two Iveco Tests against France, Stephen Donald copped all sorts of flak. I even suggested that perhaps outside of his immediate family and Wayne Smith, I was the only person who considered Donald worthy of another shot at claiming the troublesome test first five position.
Most others were strongly of the opinion that Donald should make way for Luke McAlister, while a few stated no preference for either, and wanted Piri Weepu to wear the number 10.
Saturday night's match against Italy was a perfect opportunity for Luke McAlister to grab the place permanently, much as it would have been for Donald if he'd had the chance.
But Stephen Donald can sleep much more comfortably now because McAlister was no better than the Chiefs playmaker.
The recently- returned McAlister began with two smart chips which had the Italian defence scrambling. With any luck those two surprise options could have produced points, but they didn't.
Then however, he proceeded to miss touch from a penalty, dropped a pass, almost gifted the Italians a breakaway through intercept, lost the ball, kicked directly to hand and never looked likely to breach the defence until the very last minute.
He did however kick the goals superbly and his cross kick for Rokocoko was perfectly executed.
I think though, the negatives outweighed the positives by quite some margin and so, as the All Blacks beginning to prepare in earnest for the opening Tri Nations match, the stand-in for Daniel Carter is still a worry.
I admire McAlister. He is an extraordinarily gifted individual and will play a lot of games for the All Blacks. But as I have stated many times, I am far from convinced that first five is his best position- in major Test matches anyway.
His confidence must also have taken a battering and to continue with him against Australia seems very risky.
Furthermore, McAlister on Sunday conceded that he is not the man to play at first five-eight during the Tri Nations .
The selectors have decided that Weepu is a bench player at halfback, so they might now be tempted to place McAlister in the same position- a potent impact player for numbers 10, 12 and even further out. Once he gets more game time, McAlister will be a much more valuable and dangerous player. At the moment though, he is straining to regain the impressive form he displayed in the Northern Hemisphere competition.
Graham Henry has also made it abundantly clear that Weepu is not regarded as a starting first five, so the question is, in the time remaining, can McAlister convince the selectors that he is the man for the job, or will Donald return?
If Donald is allowed to team up with Brendon Leonard in the starting fifteen, he might just produce his best form consistently. That is what will be required against the Australians and South Africans.
That, and a further big improvement from the forwards, plus of course the return of Sivivatu, Smith and So'oialo.
Not too many All Black fans are predicting a Tri Nations title this year, but then they are also aware that perhaps by not peaking two years out from a World Cup, the team is providing the fans with be a blessing in disguise.
