MacDonald to sit out November tour
Tue, 14 Oct 2008 08:57
All Black assistant coach Wayne Smith has given Ali Williams and Stephen Donald votes of confidence ahead of New Zealand's end-of-year tour, but confirmed fullback Leon MacDonald will stay behind.
MacDonald suffered a concussion during the All Blacks' 28-30 loss to South Africa in Dunedin on July 12, subsequently missing the rest of the Tri-Nations as he struggled to overcome the symptoms.
He has however been training with Canterbury the past few weeks during their Air New Zealand (NZ) Cup campaign, while being closely monitored by All Black and Canterbury medical staff.
Although MacDonald is making decent progress, Smith said a decision had already been taken that the 30-year-old No.15 would not be making the trip to Hong Kong, the United Kingdom and Ireland next month.
"We made a decision a while ago that Leon [MacDonald] would not be making the tour," Smith told PA Sport.
"He needs time. I think he will be fine given a decent period to recover so we'll give him that.
"We have left Leon to his own space and he's got to make his own decisions. He's got a bit of recovery to do and we've just left him to do that."
Wellington fullback Cory Jane, who has impressed for the Lions this season, is a strong contender for the vacant second fullback spot, while Canterbury's Paul Williams, who was part of the All Blacks wider training squad earlier this year, is another also pushing for selection alongside incumbent Mils Muliaina.
Meanwhile, lock Ali Williams, who was nursed through the Tri-Nations after spraining his ankle in the return Test against England in Christchurch in June, has taken no part in the Air NZ Cup, although Smith is encouraged by his progress.
"Ali has been running for the last week or so and I think his recovery from an ankle injury has been pretty good so that's pretty promising," added Smith.
Stephan Donald, Dan Carter's back-up at flyhalf, is battling back from a rib cartilage injury he suffered in his only appearance for Waikato at the beginning of October - a similar injury to the one he incurred at the end of the Super 14 campaign.
Although Donald failed to last the first 40 minutes during the Mooloos' final round-robin match against Taranaki, Smith was confident the No.10 would bounce back quickly again.
"He recovered from that [Super 14 injury] in two or three weeks, so I imagine he's not in doubt," Smith said.
"He's also shown the ability to come on for us under real pressure with very little game-time under the belt.
"He's mentally tough, he's got a bit of X-factor and I think he'll be okay," he added.
