Stephen Donald was fishing on the Waikato river with friends when he got the call to come to Auckland and play in the 2011 Rugby World Cup final.

The flyhalf, nicknamed “Beaver”, answered All Blacks coach Graham Henry’s SOS after injuries to Dan Carter and Colin Slade.

“Ted’s number came up a few times, I didn’t have it saved so it wasn’t until Mils [Muliaina, New Zealand fullback] rang me and said ‘Ted’s trying to get you up to Auckland; you might need to get in touch with him,’ that I returned the calls.”

Aaron Cruden, who had also been omitted from the original All Blacks squad, started against France in the final, with Donald wearing the No 21 jersey.

“Physically I wasn’t as well prepared as I might have been. Mentally I was fine, I was pretty fresh,” recalled Donald, who came onto the field when Cruden was injured after 33 minutes. “To be fair I was pretty confident, I craved to be out there.”

The All Blacks were leading 5-0 after 44 minutes when they were awarded a penalty and Donald stepped up.

“Now it has a fair bit more significance but at the time it was just a kick with about 25 minutes or 30 to go that needed to go over. There wasn’t too much going through my head to be fair.”

Donald slotted the 32m penalty and while France hit back with a converted try from Thierry Dusautoir, the All Blacks held on for an 8-7 victory and lifted the Webb Ellis Cup for the first time in 24 years.