Stephen Rex Donald (born 3 December 1983) is a New Zealand

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player who played for the NEC Green Rockets in the Japanese Top League. A first five-eighth or

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, he won 24 international caps for

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. Nicknamed 'Beaver', he is best known for kicking the winning penalty in the

2011 Rugby World Cup final The 2011 Rugby World Cup Final was a rugby union match between France national rugby union team, France and New Zealand national rugby union team, New Zealand, to determine the winner of the 2011 Rugby World Cup. The match took place on 23 Octobe ...

Background

Donald grew up in Waiuku where his father was a teacher. He attended Sandspit Road School and Waiuku College. After the Sixth Form year he was given the opportunity to go to Wesley College for his final year. He played First five-eighth for the Wesley First XV rugby team, coached by Nick Leger, along with Sitiveni Sivivatu, Tame Tupou, Viliame Veikoso, Sailosi Tagicakibau, Ezra Taylor and Tomasi Soqeta.

Domestic career

Waikato

Initially progressing and playing through all levels for the

Waikato The Waikato () is a region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato District, Waipā District, Matamata-Piako District, South Waikato District and Hamilton City, as well as Hauraki, Coromandel Peninsula, the nort ...

province in the

ITM Cup ITM may stand for: Education * ITM Law School, one of the professional graduate schools of ITM University * ITM-IFM, Mumbai, India * Institut Teknologi Mara, a public university in Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia * Institute for Information, Tel ...

Chiefs

He then played for the Chiefs in the

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It has previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Super Rugby started as the S ...

competition. He would initially play for the franchise from 2005 until 2011. In 2015, Donald had signed to return to New Zealand to play for

in the

. Donald made his return with

on 10 September 2015 against Southland at

Waikato Stadium FMG Stadium Waikato is a major sporting and cultural events venue in Hamilton, New Zealand, with a total capacity of 25,800. Four areas contribute to this capacity: The Brian Perry Stand holding 12,000, the WEL Networks Stand holding 8,000, th ...

, coming on as a substitute. In June 2016, Donald captained the Chiefs to a dominating win over

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. Although the Welsh were the strong favourites going into the match, Donald had played a 'man of the match' role, dominating his opponents whilst also setting up two tries and perfect goal-kicking percentage which saw the Chiefs beat the Welsh 40–7. Donald also received a standing ovation from the crowd after being subbed in the 68th minute. Donald was controversially disallowed a try just before halftime after the TMO could not see any clear grounding of the ball. In February 2019 it was announced that Donald had joined the Chiefs once again as injury cover for Tiaan Falcon.

Bath Rugby

Donald signed for English Premiership club

Bath Rugby Bath Rugby is a professional rugby union club in Bath, Somerset, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. Founded in 1865 as Bath Football Club, since 1894 the club has played at the Recreation Ground, Bath, Rec ...

for a -year deal. Initially denied a work permit, Bath appealed the decision against the UK Government and, with the support of the RFU, won their appeal against the refusal. Donald joined Bath after the Rugby World Cup 2011, making his début in the 68th minute of their Heineken Cup clash with Glasgow on 13 November 2011, scoring a penalty with 90 seconds to go. The

Blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

denied reports stating that Donald had signed for the team for

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

as a replacement for Stephen Brett and

Luke McAlister Charles Luke McAlister (born 28 August 1983 in Waitara, New Zealand, Waitara) is a retired New Zealand rugby union footballer. He played at Fly-half (rugby union), fly-half and at Centre (rugby union), centre. He is the brother of New Zealand w ...

, who are both heading overseas.

Mitsubishi Dynaboars

In April 2013, it was announced Donald would leave Bath Rugby to join Japanese side Mitsubishi Sagamihara DynaBoars in the

Top League Japan Rugby League One (), formerly known as the Top League (), is a rugby union competition in Japan. It is the highest level of professional rugby competition in the country. The Japan Rugby Football Union created the competition in 2003, by ...

for the 2013/14 season.

International career

Despite an international career that had not lived up to expectations, he played for

from 2008 to 2011. Donald kicked the winning penalty for New Zealand in the 2011 Rugby World Cup final. Donald played on an international-level for the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks, is the representative men's national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of New Zealand, which is considered the country's national sport. Famed for th ...

from 2008 to 2011. Throughout his time playing for the All Blacks, Donald had been the subject of harsh criticism as well as high praise. One instance of note was in October 2010, when the All Blacks faced off against the

Wallabies A wallaby () is a small or middle-sized macropod native to Australia and New Guinea, with introduced populations in New Zealand, Hawaii, the United Kingdom and other countries. They belong to the same taxonomic family as kangaroos and som ...

in a

Bledisloe Cup The Bledisloe Cup is an annual rugby union competition between the national teams of Australia's Wallabies and New Zealand's All Blacks that has been contested since the 1930s. The frequency that the competition is held has varied, as has the n ...

match in

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. In the 60th minute of the game, Donald came on as a substitute for Dan Carter and the All Blacks held a five-point lead, just after Drew Mitchell scored a converted try. Donald had missed a penalty-kick that would have put the game out of reach. The situation was made worse when Donald failed to kick the ball into touch in the dying minutes of the game. After launching a counter-attack, James O'Connor scored a try in the corner to level the score. O'Connor managed to convert that try to win the game for the Australians and the blame of the loss fell primarily on Donald. Although defended by team personnel, Donald had seemingly fallen out of favour with the public and selectors. After the 2010 season had culminated, the All Black selectors looked toward players such as Colin Slade and

Aaron Cruden Aaron Wiremu Cruden (born 8 January 1989) is a New Zealand rugby union player, who plays for Waikato and formerly Montpellier, Manawatu and New Zealand internationally. Cruden's usual position is fly-half (first five-eighth). Early life Cru ...

more favourably. Donald was not named in the initial

2011 Rugby World Cup The 2011 Rugby World Cup, was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The World Rugby, International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japa ...

All Blacks squad and with his forthcoming move to Bath Rugby, it seemed to be the end of his All Black career. However, a string of injures hit the All Blacks that would see Donald return to the squad. During training the day before the All Blacks match against Canada, Dan Carter sustained a tournament-ending groin injury and was subsequently replaced by Aaron Cruden. On 9 October, Colin Slade sustained a groin tear which led to Donald receiving a call-up as replacement first-five for the All Blacks heading into the finals. A cartoon by Tom Scott in the lead-up to the

described it as a "nightmare" if New Zealand's fate was left in his hands. Donald was not used in the semi-final against Australia, however he would be used in the final against France. Cruden sustained a knee injury 34 minutes into the first half, which left Donald to take to the field. After receiving a penalty in the 46th minute, Donald converted a penalty-kick which extended their lead to eight points. Shortly afterwards, France regained the ball from the kick-off and

Thierry Dusautoir Thierry Dusautoir (; born 18 November 1981) is a French former rugby union player who last played for France at international level and Toulouse in the French Top 14 club competition. He was called the "Dark Destroyer" during his career. Dusautoi ...

scored under the posts, bringing the score to 8–7. Despite the resilient and strong performance from the French, this would be their only set of points scored in the final. Coupled with Tony Woodcock's try, Donald's penalty-kick was ultimately what won the New Zealand side their second Rugby World Cup. After the final, Donald was hailed as the player that won the World Cup for New Zealand and had become somewhat of a national hero thereafter. In honour of his contribution to winning the World Cup, his local rugby club in

Waiuku Waiuku is a rural town in the Auckland Region of New Zealand. It is located at the southern end of the Waiuku River, which is an estuary, estuarial arm of the Manukau Harbour, and lies on the isthmus of the Āwhitu Peninsula, which extends to th ...

has renamed their home ground to Beaver Park. A biopic on Donald's journey to the World Cup final entitled "The Kick" screened on

TVNZ Television New Zealand (, "Te Reo Tātaki" meaning "The Leading Voice"), more commonly referred to as TVNZ, is a New Zealand state-owned media company and Crown entity. The company operates a television network, streaming service, and news se ...

on 10 August 2014. Stephen appeared on the second episode of The Masked Singer NZ as " Moa", being unmasked in his first appearance.

Statistics

Test record overall:

Television

Donald appeared alongside

Israel Dagg Israel Jamahl Akuhata Dagg (born 6 June 1988) is a former New Zealand rugby union player who played for the Crusaders in Super Rugby. He has also played for the New Zealand Sevens team, and represents Hawkes Bay in the ITM Cup. Dagg played i ...

and Hamish Dodd in the New Zealand 2023 television series, ''Clubhouse Rescue''.

Honours

Waikato

* NPC/Air New Zealand Cup Champion, 2006 *

Ranfurly Shield The Ranfurly Shield, colloquially known as the Log o' Wood, is a trophy in New Zealand's domestic rugby union competition. First played for in 1904, the Shield is based on a challenge system. The holding union must defend the shield in challenge ...

holder

Chiefs

Runners up:

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Bath

European Challenge Cup The EPCR Challenge Cup is an annual rugby union competition organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the second-tier competition for clubs based in European leagues behind the European Rugby Champions Cup. From its inception ...

Runners Up: 2013-2014

New Zealand

Rugby World Cup The Men's Rugby World Cup is a rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams, the winners of which are recognised as the World championship, world champions of the sport. The tournament is administer ...

Winner:

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

* Tri Nations Winner:

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

Winner (3): 2008-2010

References

External links

* * Stephen Donal
Chiefs' profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Donald, Stephen 1983 births Living people Bath Rugby players Chiefs (Super Rugby) players Counties Manukau rugby union players New Zealand expatriate rugby union players in England New Zealand expatriate rugby union players in Japan Mitsubishi Sagamihara DynaBoars players New Zealand international rugby union players New Zealand rugby union players People educated at Wesley College, Auckland People from Papakura Rugby union fly-halves Tokyo Sungoliath players University of Auckland alumni University of Waikato alumni Waikato rugby union players Rugby union players from Auckland People educated at Waiuku College 2011 Rugby World Cup players