At the beginning of August Stephen Donald was wondering what to pack for his flight back to Japan ahead of the new rugby season.

Now the World Cup-winning cult hero is poised to play for Waikato for the remainder of the national provincial championship season.

The 31-year-old, who played 55 matches for the province between 2004-2011, has played in England and Japan since his starring role in New Zealand's 2011 World Cup final win over France at Eden Park.

After being down the pecking order of first-fives before the tournament, Donald came on as a substitute in the final after a string of injuries saw off Dan Carter, Colin Slade and Aaron Cruden and kicked the crucial penalty goal in the All Blacks' 8-7 win. Now he's back in Waikato colours.

"Having been away I'm just excited to be first of all back in New Zealand, and secondly playing rugby for a team I absolutely love and I'm passionate about."

Three weeks ago things could have been so different. Donald was set to continue his professional career in Japan with the Mitsubishi Dynaboars, and was only a week away from leaving the country when an urge to play in New Zealand kicked in.

"At one stage I was going to go back there," Donald said. "I love living in New Zealand and I didn't want to spend the rest of my life overseas and chasing what you do overseas.

"I made the decision one morning when I woke up. I floated the idea to Waikato to see if they'd be interested, and then the wheels got in motion."

Turning his back on a two-year deal in Japan wasn't easy but the club understood Donald's decision to stay at home.

Now he's frantically trying to get into "New Zealand rugby shape", as he puts it, which is a different level of fitness from overseas rugby.

"You have different kinds of athletes in New Zealand. You don't have Damian McKenzie's in Japan or England trying to run around you every day in training over there, so that's something I'm getting used to again."

Donald is now one of the oldest members of the Waikato squad, although fellow All Black Liam Messam is back in training this week to provide memories of the past.

Messam said it would be great having Donald back in New Zealand rugby, and said it was nice to have someone in his age bracket at training.

"Liam's been back one day and tried to run over the top of me," Donald said. "That's been good."

There is another reason Donald is happy to be back living in New Zealand, and it's fairly predictable.

"Whitebait season just started. I did go out on opening day, but I just caught a lot of seaweed to be fair.

"It does help actually living in New Zealand when the season is on. You can't catch much in Tokyo."

Donald will be available for selection for next week's team to play Bay of Plenty in Tauranga on August 30.