NEWS:The Leinster coach played a part in the early development of the All Blacks' unlikely World Cup hero Stephen Donald, writes GAVIN CUMMISKEY

JOE SCHMIDT knows enough about Bath after seeing what they did to Montpellier at The Rec on November 20th. The Leinster head coach also has decent insight into their World Cup-winning outhalf, having coached Stephen Donald as a schoolboy.

“Jeez, that was 10 years ago or something but, yeah, I coached Stephen when New Zealand Schools went on a tour of the UK and France so I know him pretty well. He played both 10 and fullback for us.”

The course of Donald’s career was evident even as a teenager when he was forced to scrap for a starting berth with exceptionally-talented outhalves.

Jimmy Gopperth is running things at Newcastle Falcons, while Luke McAlister got out of his New Zealand contract early, and just before the World Cup, to link up with Toulouse last September.

Factor in Nick Evans throwing his arms to the heavens four seasons back by signing for Harlequins; a move that finally opened the All Blacks door for Donald.

He is no Dan Carter. But then nobody is. Most of his 23 caps came in 2008 and 2009 but his fate was seemingly sealed in the autumn of 2010. A poor kicking display in the Tokyo defeat to Australia hardly helped, while the narrow escape against Munster at Thomond Park also came on his watch.

Despite Evans and McAlister remaining out of the equation, Donald was tossed on to the scrap heap. Still, he clung on in hope. Due to join Bath a few months ago, he first went fishing up the Waikato river.

When Carter’s groin imploded one dark afternoon before the Canada match, Colin Slade was dropped into the World Cup pressure cooker. When Slade buckled, a nation turned to the impish Aaron Cruden, and Donald was called in as back up. Then, finally, when Cruden collapsed against France in the final, captain Richie McCaw took one look at him before jogging away. Another fallen Kiwi number 10 on the battlefield.

Suddenly Donald was galloping on to the paddock and before long he was presented with the penalty that eventually delivered the William Webb Ellis trophy to a desperate country.

“I thought he coped really well with being fourth choice, being called in late, coming on (in the final) and grabbing the ball, knowing it was his kick and putting it between the uprights,” said Schmidt.

“He had to do a fair bit of defending as well. I know him personally as a real quality character.”

He proved that on October 23rd and now must do so again this weekend against Leinster.

“I think he has had a big influence in Bath already. He had a massive hand in both their tries against Montpellier, running 60, 70 metres to set up one of them. He has real speed. And then there was that quality pass to put (Olly) Woodburn in.

“I’ve certainly seen him develop and he is a real threat. He takes the ball flat to the line and runs very aggressively. He is very strong and would be close to 96 kilos and quite tall, 6ft 2in, at least, which is very big for an outhalf.”

Bath are struggling to return to the higher echelons of the English game. Currently 10th in the Premiership, defeat away to Glasgow, the Pool’s whipping boys, makes every game a must-win if they are to qualify.

Lewis Moody is gone for 10 weeks after shoulder surgery but there is flock of quality players poised to make a massive impact in the Roman city this Sunday lunchtime (kick-off is 12.45pm).

“They rested a few guys on the weekend (when defeated by 16-13 by Sale),” said Schmidt. “(Stuart) Hooper, their captain, didn’t play. Neither did Francois Louw, Stephen Donald or Dan Hipkiss. A number of guys are coming back freshened and also it suggests to me they have a very clear plan about what they are targeting. I get the hint that it might be us.

“You cannot be two, three per cent off your mark because they will make sure they damage us if we are.”

The basic premise of Leinster destroying Glasgow and the Scots beating Bath should increase the expectation of an away four points being gathered on Sunday.

Schmidt refuses to accept this simplistic assumption.

“In their two Heineken Cup matches so far I don’t think you could fault their performances. They really did dominate Glasgow for a large amount of the game, 65 per cent territory and possession, maybe even 70 per cent. They were desperately unlucky with the ricochet from the attempted drop goal and Richie Gray going over under the posts.

“I thought they did a tremendous job against a Montpellier team that anyone following them at the moment would identify as a real threat.”

And then, in now typical Schmidt fashion, he provides analysis of every facet of their game.

He mentions 19 Bath players in total. Here is the edited version: (Stuart) Hooper runs a quality lineout; (David) Wilson and (David) Flatman make up a powerful scrum; (Francois) Louw is a shark at the breakdown; Michael Claassens at scrumhalf “is, well, class”. The backline has searing pace, with Matt Banahan expected to batter his 18-stone frame through midfield.

“The forwards are not massive but a bit like our lads, they are very combative.”

And they have a heroic figure directing matters from the cockpit.

Sounds an awful lot like Leinster, even if the smart money remains firmly on the champions.