All Blacks: Delany shines as Donald wonders

Stephen Donald is in the unfamiliar situation of playing second fiddle to Chiefs teammate Mike Delany. Photo / Getty Images

Dan Carter slipped, Stephen Donald tumbled and Mike Delany soared - fate has scattered the All Black first-fives in the most unexpected directions.

In Carter's case it might be more accurate to suggest that first Warren Gatland then the IRB intervened to leave the All Blacks' first choice No 10 in the eye of a storm and in the stands of the San Siro.

Instead of training with his teammates yesterday at the Arena Civico, Carter was in London, being handed a one-week suspension.

He tried to slip quietly back into the All Black hotel on his return, only to be clobbered by a waiting media pack who wanted to hear how the sport's golden child was coping with his reluctantly acquired bad-boy image.

With the heat on Carter, it left Donald free to mope in peace and wonder how it is that he is now on the edge of the squad, having seen Delany take his career to heights that seemed impossibly far away just three months ago.

Delany, who was the undisputed second-choice first five-eighth for the Chiefs earlier this year, will make his test debut on Sunday morning at one of the most famous sports grounds in the world.

It's a story that even the 27-year-old must find hard to believe. "I think his maturity will really help," said All Black assistant coach Wayne Smith of Delany's impending debut.

"He went through the game-plan this morning and that went really well and I think he should be able to handle it."

For Donald, the news will be difficult to accept, for it was he who was the undisputed first-choice No 10 with the Chiefs.

It's been a long, slow fall from grace for Donald since he played an integral role in taking the Chiefs to their first Super Rugby final.

All he can cling to now is the hope that Delany's selection is exploratory - a case of throwing him out there to see if he can handle the demands.

The less-palatable scenario for Donald is that the selectors see Delany as a better long-term bet to back-up Carter and they are now going to give him every opportunity to prove that.

And unfortunately for Donald, Smith revealed that the coaching panel have been tracking Delany for some time.

"Probably, initially in Super 14," said Smith of when Delany first showed on their radar.

"He had a couple of cameo performances and he scored one of the best tries in Super 14 in South Africa when he came on. We did a bit of research on him, got some feedback from Fozzie [Chiefs coach Ian Foster], took a closer look and here he is."

- HERALD ON SUNDAY