Quentin Donald  {All Black #275}

Quentin Donald was the younger by nearly two years of two outstanding brothers who were leading members of Wairarapa sides in that union’s most successful decade in the 1920s.

Despite a limited population base Wairarapa had several Ranfurly Shield successes in those years and as one of the country’s leading provincial sides produced many other All Blacks besides the Donalds.

But while they each had lengthy stints in the All Blacks the two brothers never appeared in the same All Black XV.

At 1.78m and around 80kgs Quentin was much the smaller of the two. But he had the same whipcord strength of his brother Jim and much the same rugged natural ability derived from their farming work.

A hooker in the two fronted scrums of the time, Quentin played in 47 matches for Wairarapa between 1918 and 1928, representing the union in his first year out of Wellington College where he was in the 1st XV in 1917. He had the first of his two appearances for the North Island in 1919 and his first major appearance at international level was for the combined Wairarapa-Bush team against the touring 1921 Springboks.

He had his first All Black game when he played in the 1923 match against the touring New South Wales at Christchurch. A total of 37 players was used in those three games as the national selectors used the series as virtual trials for the following year’s tour of Britain.

Many of the players tried were quickly discarded but Donald was one who made an impression. In 1924 he was in the North Island side again and in three of the trials before winning selection in the touring party.

On tour he was a major success and in fronting the 2-3-2 scrum formation he and “Bull” Irvine developed into a formidable combination.

Donald played in 22 matches for the Invincibles and he and Irvine were together in all four internationals. With his prematurely balding pate Donald was a distinctive figure on the field.

That, though, proved to be the end of Donald’s All Black involvement. Most of the Invincibles’ first string players were recalled for the one-off unofficial test against the touring New South Wales side late in 1925 but as Irvine’s hooking partner Mick Lomas was preferred.

But even if he was now forgotten at national level Quentin Donald remained in the limelight. He was in the Wairarapa side which played Hawke’s Bay for the Ranfurly Shield in the celebrated Battle of Solway in 1927 and became a central participant in that legendary occasion when he and his 1924 team-mate, the Bay’s Morrie Brownlie, were ordered off by referee Bert McKenzie.

Donald later served the Wairarapa union as a coach and a selector.

Profile by Lindsay Knight
for the New Zealand Rugby Museum.

POINTS SCORED FOR THE ALL BLACKS	t	c	p	dg	pts
vs N.S.W., 1 Sep 1923	1	–	–	–	3
vs Gloucestershire, 25 Sep 1924	2	–	–	–	6
vs North Midlands, 8 Oct 1924	1	–	–	–	3
vs Hampshire, 17 Dec 1924	1	–	–	–	3
vs London Counties, 27 Dec 1924	1	–	–	–	3
Totals	6	0	0	0	18