Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
A Donald thump in the Kisser
ULSTER suffered another body blow yesterday with confirmation that Stephen Donald won’t be joining the club on a short-term deal.
The 34-year-old Kiwi was poised to move to Kingspan Stadium to replace Christian Lealiifano.
The Aussie ace is returning to the Brumbies this week following the conclusion of his loan spell on Saturday – the defeat at Wasps that ended Ulster’s hopes of reaching the Champions Cup quarterfinals.
Director of rugby Les
Kiss had identified Donald – who kicked New Zealand to World Cup final success in 2011 – as the ideal man to replace Lealiifano.
But Donald suffered an injury while playing for Toshiba Brave Lupus in the final game of the Japanese season. And, after it was confirmed the veteran will be out for at least four weeks, Ulster have decided not to go ahead with the move.
As such, young Johnny Mcphillips will be the firstchoice fly-half in the Pro14, backed up by Peter Nelson and Brett Herron.
“Unfortunately, Ulster Rugby is not in a position to proceed with the signing of Stephen Donald, after receiving a medical report on the player yesterday (Sunday),” read a club statement.
“Stephen had agreed a short-term deal to join the Province, but he sustained an injury while representing his club in the final game of the Japanese season, which will rule him out for four-plus weeks.
“The timeline now makes it very difficult to find a suitable replacement, but we will continue to monitor the market.”