‘That kick’ opened up my life again: Donald
Former All Black Stephen Donald has opened up on the brutal criticism he received throughout his career and how his moment of redemption in the 2011 World Cup final gave him back his ‘‘freedom in New Zealand’’.
Twelve months before Donald booted the All Blacks to victory in the nailbiting World Cup decider against France, the first-five bore the brunt of the public backlash to the national side’s defeat to the Wallabies in Hong Kong.
Donald says he always accepted that criticism was part of the job and wouldn’t swap his All Blacks experience for anything.
But he admits that hearing people label him a ‘‘choker’’ and that he never deserved to wear the black jersey cut deep.
‘‘I’ve never been the most talented person but I worked hard to get to where I got to be an All Black,’’ Donald said on Sky Sports’ Playmakers:
Rugby Stories. ‘‘I thought, ‘apart from Dessie [Dan Carter], I am the next best 10 in this country for a long period of time, I should be here’. That’s why I felt I should’ve been there. When people start saying you never deserve to be an All Black, that cuts you.
‘‘And then the choker thing, that really hurt me because I pride myself that when kicks need to go over, kicks went over.’’
Donald says it got to the point where he couldn’t be seen in public without receiving some form of criticism.
That all changed after his World Cup heroics at Eden Park, which completely flipped the narrative on Donald as well as opening up several new opportunities after leaving the All Blacks.
But for ‘Beaver’, who struck the winning penalty in the 8-7 win over France, he was just happy to get his life back.
‘‘I could walk around the streets of New Zealand,’’ Donald said of what did for him.
‘‘It just opened up my life again and allowed me not to have a hoodie on in summer and go to the supermarket, go to the pub in peace.
‘‘People always say ‘what has it meant to you?’ Obviously it opened up a lot of doors, this and that. The most important thing is it got me a way of life back again and allowed me to have a bit of freedom in New Zealand again, really.’’