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EDINBURGH - As historic rugby occasions go, the Bledisloe Cup's Asian interlude was a far from memorable experience for All Blacks first five-eighth Stephen Donald.
After the euphoria of Brisbane, where the Waikato playmaker came on to help the All Blacks overcome a 10-point deficit in the Tri-Nations decider, his first start in a test match fell a little flat.
New Zealand struggled to make inroads against a dominant Australia and it was Donald's turn to depart after 50 difficult minutes on Hong Kong Stadium before the All Blacks powered home to win 19-14.
Fortunately for Donald he has an opportunity to improve on a mixed performance when the All Blacks kick off their Grand Slam attempt against Scotland here on Saturday.
And this time he does not have the comfort - or distraction - of having Carter positioned outside him.
"Dan's not holding my hand," Donald smiled.
Carter is on the bench though and from Donald's point of view the longer he is rugged up there the better.
"I'm relieved to get another go, there's a few things I took out of that game and hopefully I'll implement them a bit better on Saturday (Sunday NZT)," he said.
"It's great I get another crack."
Donald's decision-making and tactical kicking was a little off, a poor first half performance by the forwards hardly helping his cause.
"It was a little bit frustrating last week the way the game unfolded," Donald admitted.
"All week you build up and you have a few little plans in your mind that you'd love to achieve but that's rugby, you're not always going to get that perfect front foot ball.
"They slowed our ruck ball down, so she was pretty tough to operate in and get any sort of roll on."
And although his teammates and coaches were supportive, Donald made no attempt to mask his own shortcomings.
"I felt I was solid without sort of doing anything else - I may have played a little bit within myself."
His substitution, while disappointing, was also justified.
"I understand why they pulled me off with 30 to go - it's 14-all, who better to bring on than Ma'a Nonu?"
All Blacks assistant coach Wayne Smith said Donald had coped well with the adverse reaction to his starting debut and had no doubt he was the man to guide the All Blacks around Murrayfield.
"Criticism is part of being an All Black but as far as we're concerned he's developing well," Smith said.
"We're really happy with what he's done this year. We've nursed him through an extensive international period.
"Scotland is a good opportunity for him, we're certain he'll be up to it.
"He wasn't on the back of a great first half performance by the team (in Hong Kong) and as a five-eighth that can affect your performance - he didn't make a lot of errors," said Smith, a former All Black playmaker.
Donald will have more positive reinforcement available against the Scots.
Nonu, the man he replaced in Brisbane, starts at second five-eighth for the 11th time in 12 tests this season while there will be morale support in the stands as Donald's parent's Brett and Cheryl are flying in from New Zealand.
His brother Gavin is driving up from London.
- NZPA
