Stephen Donald

Waikato

Initially progressing and playing through all levels for the Waikato province in the ITM Cup.

Chiefs

He then played for the Chiefs in the Super Rugby competition. He would initially play for the franchise from 2005 until 2011.

In 2015, Donald had signed to returned to New Zealand to play for Waikato in the ITM Cup. Donald made his return with Waikato on 10 September 2015 against Southland at Waikato Stadium, coming on as a substitute.

In June 2016, Donald captained the Chiefs to a dominating win over Wales. 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.

Bath Rugby

Donald signed for English Premiership club Bath Rugby for a  2 ¹⁄₂-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 denied reports stating that Donald had signed for the team for 2012 as a replacement for Stephen Brett and Luke McAlister, who are both heading overseas.

Mitsubishi Dynaboars

In April 2013, it was announced Donald would leave Bath Rugby to join Japanese side Mitsubishi Dynaboars in the Top League for the 2013/14 season.

International career

Despite an international career that had not lived up to expectations, he played for the All Blacks from 2008 till 2011. Donald, aka 'The Beaver', kicked the winning penalty in the 2011 IRB Rugby World Cup Final for New Zealand.

Donald played on an international-level for the All Blacks from 2008 to 2011. Throughout his time playing with the All Blacks, Donald had been the subject of harsh criticism as well as high praise.

One instance of note was in October 2010, where the All Blacks faced off against the Wallabies in a Bledisloe Cup match in Hong Kong. In the 60th minute of the game, Donald came on as a substitute for Daniel 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. O'Connor managed to convert the 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 favor with the public. After the 2010 season had culminated, the All Black selectors looked toward players such as Colin Slade and Aaron Cruden more favorably. Donald was not named in the initial 2011 Rugby World Cup All Blacks squadron 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, Daniel Carter sustained a tournament-ending groin injury and was subsequently replaced by Aaron Cruden. On the 9th of 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 2011 Rugby World Cup Final 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 in the final against France, Cruden sustained a knee injury 34 minutes into the first half, which saw Donald take the field. After receiving a penalty in the 46th minute, Donald converted a penalty-kick which would ultimately turn out to be what would win New Zealand their second Rugby World Cup. Shortly afterwards, France regained the ball from the kick-off and Dusatoir scored under the posts, bringing the score to 8-7. The score wouldn't change, however. After having won the World Cup, Donald was hailed as the player that won the World Cup for New Zealand and had become somewhat of a cult hero thereafter.

In honour of his contribution to winning the World Cup, his local rugby club in Waiuku 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 on 10 August 2014.

Statistics

Test record overall: