All Blacks: Mis-firing Donald under the pump

All Blacks first-five Stephen Donald is likely to miss next week's test against Italy with a hamstring strain. Photo / Mark Mitchell

There is some heat back in the great All Blacks rugby first five-eighth debate.

A second error-prone outing from Stephen Donald in last night's 14-10 defeat of France in Wellington will have the selectors wondering whether the Waikato No 10 is the long-term answer to injured star Daniel Carter.

With Carter not back until the season-ending tour at the earliest, Luke McAlister may well get a shot at the playmaking role against Italy in Christchurch on Saturday.

Donald is likely to miss that test due to a hamstring he strained while kicking a penalty midway through the second half.

If absent, he will be an anxious spectator after failing to dominate in his fourth test start last night.

In atrocious conditions and given little space by the French defence, Donald's general kicking game was disappointing and he failed to set the backline alight, mirroring some indifferent output in the first test loss at Dunedin.

The Waikato 25-year-old acknowledged his fourth test start wasn't his finest, but hoped to have further chances to prove himself.

"I'm not too down on what went down tonight. Sure there were some errors there - I'd be the first to admit that - but it's one of those nights where errors are going to happen so you can't beat yourself up too hard about it," Donald said.

"There's not too many games I play where I don't make errors so you've just got to keep fronting up.

"There's always heat when you're playing for this team... there's nowhere to hide out there."

McAlister was solid if unspectacular over the final quarter, although the Westpac Stadium crowd showed its pleasure at his introduction, roaring when he unleashed a raking touchfinder with one of his first touches.

Moderate performances on last November's tour left Donald's place in doubt but a bright Super 14 campaign with the Chiefs, Carter's injury at Perpignan and a lack of quality first five-eighth options put an end to conjecture over whether Donald should be retained.

However, McAlister's return from a stint in the English club game gives coach Graham Henry a legitimate - if slightly contrived - option.

Possibly a more natural second five-eighth option, the selectors may yet see McAlister as the answer on the hard surfaces of South Africa and Australia during the Tri-Nations.

All Blacks backs coach Wayne Smith is a long-time believer in Donald and talked up his display last night.

"Very difficult for him and I thought he fronted up. Physically, he ran when he needed to run, got us going forward," Smith said.

"We had to play a tactical kicking game and (France) have got a very fast line speed."

Donald doesn't have the tactical kicking support that many leading No 10s enjoy, with second five-eighth Ma'a Nonu rarely employed to kick in general play.

It leaves Donald as an obvious target, although he downplayed that issue and preferred to focus on the impact he and halfback Jimmy Cowan had with their high attacking kicks.

"I thought me and Jimmy did what we were setting out to do," he said.

"We put their back three under a fair bit of pressure, there weren't too many clean takes on their behalf and we got some reward from that."

- NZPA