Proud few days for the Donaldsons just what the doctor ordered

Above: Luke Donaldson ordering the script for his forwards in last Saturday’s one-point win for Marist St Pat’s over Old Boys University. Donaldson was playing in his 50th blazer game. Photo: Tane Nathan (Kinetic Images).

• By Steven White

It was a proud few days earlier this week for the Donaldson rugby family

On Saturday eldest son Luke played his 50^th Premier match for Marist St Pat’s – a notable achievement considering he works fulltime and every second weekend as an emergency department medical doctor and is currently the team doctor for the Hurricanes Poua.

On Monday, father Glenn, now living back home in the Hawke’s Bay and retired after selling his facility management company of 20 years in 2024, became the former First XV coach of two All Blacks.

“Dad is very stoked and was absolutely blowing up our chat on Monday about how happy he was that two boys he coached at St Pat’s Town have now made the All Blacks together,” said Luke.

Glenn was the head coach of the St Pat’s Town First XV when they last won the Premiership title in 2015. Billy Proctor was centre that day and Xavier Numia (a former midfielder) was loosehead prop. Proctor became an All Black last year and Numia will join him when he takes the field in their upcoming three-test domestic series against France, Italy and Ireland.

“It’s been a special time,” said Glenn. “I came down from Napier to watch Luke’s 50th game. He’s worked hard to achieve that and catching up with the old timers is always a laugh. There’s some classic characters in this game.

“In 2015 we had extra trainings at 6.00am for the First XV. Xavier and Billy are both quite similar,  humble boys but always laughing among their peers. They were always outside the door before it opened. They’d stay behind too putting in extra yards and even picking up tackle bags or removing corner flags. They’ve just got it. I guess the hard work paid off.”

The two teams from that final are below, with St Pat’s Town beating Scots College 19-8 and Billy Proctor scoring a decisive first half try.

The Donaldson’s middle son, Zac was first-five for St Pat’s Town in that final. He has recently returned from living in England, where he lived with 2015 Town captain Jack Nelson-Murray in London for a time. Zac was also a very handy cricketer, as was halfback Luke Georgeson. Zac Donaldson is sitting on 97 Premier caps for Napier Old Boys Marist so a milestone is on the cards for him should he return to play in the Nash/Maddison Cups.

The third son, Sam was a flanker and played for St Pat’s Town a couple of years later, but stopped playing as a teenager after earlier concussions.

Doctor Luke Donaldson started at halfback on Saturday in MSP’s gritty 15-14 win over Old Boys University at Evans Bay Park, their third straight and one that keeps their chances alive for the Jubilee Cup with this coming Saturday’s 13^th round fixture against Johnsonville to come.

It was a forwards dominated victory for the home team.

“After our loss to Petone, we had got to the point where we needed to win every game to be in the mix for the Jubilee Cup and that loss was the kick-start that the boys needed.”

“Going into the OBU game we identified the scrum as the main point of contention, and we have young pops Corban King and Ioane Aukusitino and they have had injuries. So that is how it went and it was good personally to play behind our pack going forward.”

Both MSP’s converted tries came off scrums, with Italian No. 8 Fabio Minelli and Donaldson’s second half halfback replacement Bentley Faulkner scoring.

Donaldson identified the injection of these young players into the squad and them all finding their feet at this level as reasons why they can beat Johnsonville for their fourth straight win and hopefully start the Jubilee Cup next week.

This includes Faulkner, who is out of Wellington College and has made 12 appearances. He came off the bench for Donaldson in the 50^th minute.

“We are both different halfbacks: me, very much the slow, looking-up type, and he is the one who wants to play fast and get behind them quickly, which has worked out well recently. He came on and closed out the last 30, and he was just what we needed in terms of that sniping little halfback to get around the corner.”

For many seasons, MSP had Peter Sciascia performing that role and they won many close, hard-fought contests in this time.

This week’s opponent Johnsonville have had some good results over MSP in recent years, winning three and drawing one of their past four games and winning their last two at Helston Park. With the Trent Eagle Cup also on the line, this will be a fixture to watch this Saturday.

Donaldson played his 50^th Premier match in the win over OBU. It has taken him a decade to reach this milestone since his debut in early 2016 – but for good reason.

During that time, he qualified as a fulltime medical professional and works as an emergency medicine doctor at the Wellington and Hutt Valley hospitals. He loves it but it is a full-on and busy.

This is also means he works every second weekend and at the moment is with the Hurricanes Poua, so, for example, he won’t be playing this weekend against Johnsonville.

“I had to meticulously plan out this whole year as I had nine games to get to my 50^th appearance and there were only nine games that I was available, so it was touch and go – if I got injured I missed the chance for getting my blazer.”

Halfback Donaldson scores for MSP in their opening round win back in April against Northern United.

He also serves as MSP’s unofficial club team doctor and has been the Wellington Lions team doctor on and off for the past five years and has been the Hurricanes Poua’s doctor for three years and he will be with that team this Saturday in Pukekohe.

What does that entail?

“Think of it as their team GP, but also there to help with their concussions and any issues with needing specialty reviews or heart issues or around surgeries. And to work with the medical team to get them back to fitness or full health.”

It also involves conducting and assessing HIAs. “The players have their baseline brain tests, and they go off for review and if they are worse then they have to be taken off. Then I go through my processes, and we work through to getting back to play. This can be faster in representative players as opposed to the 21 days for club rugby because we see them every day.”

He has also had instances of switching from playing to doctoring then back to playing and then on to administering the player at the hospital afterwards whilst later working when injuries have occurred in his games he has been involved in.

What about becoming a sports doctor in the future?

“It is on the cards, and I have been in talks with some of the sports doctors here and abroad but my plan is finish my emergency medical training first over the next two years and then we approach it and see if someone can take me on as a trainee. It’s a competitive thing to get into.”

Medical doctors actively playing club rugby are few and far between – owing to the demands of the training and the job.

Pōneke Ruffnuts loosehead prop and captain Adam Fa’atoese is a GP in Lower Hutt and he helps Donaldson with HIA and other medical stuff with the Hurricanes and Lions.

In professional rugby, Crusader Christian Leo-Willie is a dentist, while referee Ben O’Keeffe is an eye doctor. All Black and 1986-winning Wellington Lions coach Earle Kirton was a dentist and 1997 Auckland All Black Jeremy Stanley is an orthopaedic surgeon.

1970s All Black Laurie Knight was a doctor, and it was said that he put Sir Bryan Williams’ popped shoulder back into place during a Test match in France.

Peter Snell was an exercise doctor and Maia Joseph the Black Ferns halfback is studying it.

Doctor Bill Treadwell was a GP in the Wellington suburb of Northland and a WRFU Life Member and affiilated with the University club. His obituary in the New Zealand Medical Association Journal following his passing in 2012 reads:

In 1958 Bill opened his general practice in the Wellington suburb of Northland and in the next almost-60 years served his patients day and night, as medical advisor and friend. He particularly enjoyed the continuity of looking after up to three generations of his original families.

He was always interested in rugby and was club doctor for several Wellington Rugby Clubs in 1959 and 1960, before being appointed Honorary Medical Office at Athletic Park. In 1965 he was asked to travel to India and Pakistan as medical officer with John Reid’s New Zealand cricket team, the first time a doctor had been a part of a touring sports group.

His pioneering interest in Sports Medicine arose from his realisation that untreated sports injuries very often led to serious disabilities in later life, so he held sports clinics at his surgery early in the morning and after hours – Monday mornings saw a parade of weekend casualties—but they were always satisfactorily highly-motivated and compliant patients and so a pleasure to treat.