Donald a doubt for Italy clash

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Scrum.com

June 21, 2009

The All Blacks' fly-half Stephen Donald is an injury doubt to play Italy © Getty Images

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Players/Officials: Stephen Donald | Kevin Morgan

Teams: Dragons | New Zealand | Wales

Stephen Donald is doubtful for New Zealand's upcoming Test against Italy after hurting his hamstring during their 14-10 win against France in Wellington on Saturday.

Donald felt the twinge while kicking for poles in the second half and the All Blacks' assistant coach Steve Hansen has said that Donald only has a 40 per cent chance of being able to take the field.

"It's not a hundred percent but he's making good progress," said Hansen. "We've got to the stage where the medical staff are happy for him to work through this week and see if we can get him some game-time."

Wales' 2005 Grand Slam winning fullback Kevin Morgan has joined Neath as a player/fitness coach in a new-look coaching set-up.

Aaron Cruden has been named IRB Junior Player of the Year for 2009, following the success of New Zealand under-20s retaining the world junior title in Tokyo, Japan. The outside-half scored two tries and had a helping in hand in three others as his team defeated England 44-28 in the final.

The New Zealand captain won the award ahead of team-mate Winston Stanley, England No 8 Carl Fearns and Richard Kingi, Australia's scrum-half.

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