Donald hooked on magic of Heineken Cup

Stephen Donald is hooked on the Heineken Cup after just two appearances in European club rugby’s blue riband competition.

Fly-half Donald has now set his sights on reigning European champions Leinster after he played a pivotal role in keeping Bath’s Heineken Cup dream alive.

The New Zealander, whose penalty secured World Cup final glory for the All Blacks against France in Auckland last month, marked his home debut in style.

Donald created Bath’s opening try for wing Olly Woodburn during a tense 16-13 victory over Montpellier.

He then almost scored the second following a lengthy interception sprint – prop David Flatman was the eventual beneficiary – while he also slotted two penalties to get his team up and running in Heineken Cup Pool Three.

Bath now face Leinster in back-to-back fixtures next month, with the outcome set to either keep them on a quarter-final course or nudge Donald and company towards making a pool stage exit.

“I love the concept of the Heineken Cup,” he said.

“We play Leinster next, and what is not to get excited about playing against the defending champions and half the Irish team? I can’t wait for it.

“We knew if we didn’t get the result (against Montpellier), we would be making up the numbers.

“Learning how to win these kind of games is half the thing of it. It was a tough loss against Glasgow last weekend – we stuffed it up.”

Bath boss Sir Ian McGeechan, meanwhile, faced inevitable questions about the England managerial job vacated five days ago by Martin Johnson.

Several people have already been linked with the job, including New Zealand’s World Cup-winning supremo Graham Henry, former South Africa coach Nick Mallett and Northampton chief Jim Mallinder.

But McGeechan feels time is on the Rugby Football Union’s side, despite the RBS 6 Nations campaign starting in just 11 weeks.

“I will be very interested to see which direction they go,” he said. “They should ideally look for an English coach.

“And I think it is key they probably take a bit of time to look at the best options.”

Asked if a caretaker coach should initially be appointed, McGeechan added: “I think the only way it would work is if they keep the same coaches for six months and then have a six-month process for finding the right man.

“That could be better than jumping to conclusions in three or four weeks.”

Leinster swept Glasgow aside 38-13 in Dublin thanks to tries from Eoin O’Malley (2), Rob Kearney, Gordon D’Arcy and Isaac Boss, which opened up a two-point gap on Bath at the Pool Three summit.

“We got well and truly spanked, didn’t we?” Glasgow coach Sean Lineen said.

“Leinster were direct and very abrasive, as we knew they were going to be. You look at four or five instances where they stripped the ball from us, like candy from a baby.”