Land of rising sun revives MacDonald

Fullback Leon McDonald played 23 tests for the All Blacks before exiting after the 2003 World Cup. Picture / Herald file

This time last year Leon MacDonald was involved in pre-season training for his rugby club in Japan.

His shift from playing first five-eighths for the Yamaha club, about an hour north of Nagoya, to fullback today for the NZ Maori in Hamilton is a rare reversal of the trend for top players to see out their days overseas.

After 26 tests for the All Blacks which began with him replacing Christian Cullen and ended in their rather inglorious exit from the 2003 World Cup, MacDonald headed to the less brutal competition in Japan.

"My body was battered, I felt like I was not getting on top of some of my injuries so I thought I would have a year out," he said.

"Playing at that level in Japan freshened me, it gave me renewed desire. Going there I enjoyed the rugby while my body also recovered."

MacDonald had suffered several severe concussions before he left, injuries which offered chances for Ben Blair and then Mils Muliaina to challenge him for the fullback job.

It was at Hamilton in early 2003, when MacDonald had not recovered from another head knock, that Muliaina got his first All Black test start at fullback against Wales.

Muliaina has been retained at fullback since then but MacDonald's successful Super 12 campaign with the Crusaders has allowed the national selectors to think they have an alternative fullback or could use Muliaina as centre.

Those thoughts will be nailed down by the panel tonight when they mull over last night's test against Fiji and the Maori match with the Lions before they announce their 26-man All Black squad tomorrow.

"The first couple of games back here I battled," MacDonald said.

"I played first five-eighths with Yamaha but the style of the Crusaders involved a lot more running. I had not done a lot of consistent sprinting and I was pretty spent in the first few matches.

"But it was very exciting to be back into Super 12 again."

Not that MacDonald regrets playing in Japan. He found the language barrier the most difficult when he played, when team-mates got excited and spoke so quickly.
His wife and family adjusted well to the move and he has no doubt the decision has extended his playing career.

"It was what I needed, either that or I had to take a year off like Norm Maxwell.

"Japan also afforded us, as a family, a wonderful chance to experience a new culture.

"The whole thing was awesome, just like going to the supermarket and coming home with salt instead of sugar, taking in their art, singing, restaurants, shops and shrines.

"The food is amazing though the country is very expensive, especially in Tokyo, unless you are earning yen."

For the last fortnight, MacDonald has been immersed in all things Maori, in a team he qualifies for through his father's ancestry.

MacDonald grew up in Marlborough where he spent a deal of his childhood on the local marae or involved in kapa haka. It was only as his rugby took hold as a career that he lost some contact with that life.

He was drafted in 1998, on the advice of the NZRU, to Hamilton and the Chiefs as a five-eighths in a difficult year before he went back to the Crusaders.

"I was only a teenager then. It was a tough year, I was still growing up and all rugby players have some tough times to go through," he recalled.

That same year though MacDonald made his NZ Maori debut on a tour to Scotland but he ruptured his spleen. He was picked for the Maori again the following year but All Black success meant he missed the squad until the rules were relaxed for this Lions visit.

"The Maori are a great team to be with, they are so different," MacDonald said. "We spend a lot of time together and we have a licence to express ourselves on the field.

"This should be great being back in the big-time. You usually only get one chance at playing the Lions in your career and it does not get any bigger than this," he said.

Did he dare think he would get back to the top again after his Japanese sojourn? "I was nervous. I have not looked past any games and this is a great opportunity for me, it is a once-in-a-lifetime chance."