Changing of the guard: Have the All Blacks found their new star blindside flanker?
The Highlanders will head into battle against the Hurricanes tonight without the services of Super Rugby’s in-form flanker Shannon Frizell.
Without him, their chances of walking away from Wellington with a win will be heavily dented.
It may seem harsh to say given the quality of Frizell’s replacement in three-test All Black Jackson Hemopo, and that the Highlanders are welcoming back Aaron and Ben Smith from their mandatory All Blacks rest week.
However, despite it being a clever move from head coach Aaron Mauger to implement the first of his two compulsory rest weeks now ahead of a six-match run of New Zealand derbies, the influence of their Tongan-born star cannot be understated.
It doesn’t take a genius to observe the significant contribution Frizell has made in the Highlanders’ opening three matches of 2019.
Coming off the bench against the Chiefs in their season-opener in Hamilton, the four-test blindside – alongside fellow reserve Aaron Smith – helped swing the momentum of the contest by producing a well-taken try from 21 minutes of quality rugby to hand the Highlanders a 30-27 come-from-behind victory.
He was rewarded with the starting role a week later in Dunedin, where he really turned heads against the Reds with a commanding performance which saw him bag a brace of tries, beat five defenders to make two line breaks, and run for 57 metres.
Add to that the 11 tackles he completed from 11 attempts and the two turnovers he secured, and onlookers at Forsyth Barr Stadium had witnessed the most complete performance by any forward so far in Super Rugby this year.
He backed that up with another sensational outing against the Rebels, where he almost single-handedly carried the Highlanders’ forward pack to a narrow loss in Melbourne.
Had he managed to cling onto the ball over the tryline from a pick-and-go in the dying stages of the match, he would have added to the wonderful try he scored early in the first half.
Nevertheless, Frizell finished with a tidy stat sheet, completing the game with 33 running metres, five defenders beaten from one clean break, and 10 tackles made from 11 attempts.
In the two matches he’s started, no forward has ousted him for ball carries, metres made, defenders beaten or clean breaks, and he now leads the competition for tries scored (four), is second for ball carries (38), and is the only forward to register in the top 10 for defenders beaten (11).
Frizell’s defensive presence shouldn’t go unnoticed either, as he’s missed just two of his 25 tackle attempts to register a success rate of 92 percent.
What’s been perhaps been most impressive, though, is his ability to manoeuvre through the tackle attempts of his opponents and drive forward to earn his side an extra few hard-earned metres.
Being able to stay on his feet and thrust his way forward made him a key attacking weapon for the Highlanders against the Chiefs, Reds and Rebels, and Hemopo will have a big job on his hands to fill that role against the Hurricanes tonight.
It’s that effectiveness and work rate across all facets of the game that has made Frizell not only a standout for the Highlanders, but it’s thrust him into the spotlight to fill the All Blacks’ number six jersey at this year’s World Cup.
The All Blacks’ incumbent number six Liam Squire has been out with a hip injury since the end of last year, and is set to have a tough time wrestling the starting blindside role off his international and Super Rugby teammate Frizell.
Since debuting for the Highlanders and All Blacks in 2016, Squire has been a monster to contain for opposition defences, such his physicality both with and without the ball.
Those qualities have earned him 23 test caps to date, and following the departure of Jerome Kaino to Toulouse last year, Squire seems to have established himself as New Zealand’s premier six.
That is if he’s fit enough to play.
The 27-year-old has built himself a reputation for being injury-plagued in recent times, and it’s a reputation that’s ruled him out of a raft of test matches, most notably the 2017 British and Irish Lions series.
Injuries can be expected given the nature of which Squire plays the game – he’s brutal, unrelenting, and is extremely confrontational – but for all the benefits that style of play brings, it could cost him his All Blacks jersey, especially when a challenger like Frizell is in the form that he’s in.
In all fairness, there’s still another 14 rounds of Super Rugby to be played, and in that timeframe, Squire could return to peak form and re-assert himself as Aaron Mauger’s and Steve Hansen’s top-class six by the business end of Super Rugby.
That’s also ample amounts of time for someone such as Hemopo, Vaea Fifita, Jordan Taufua or Dalton Papalii to bolster their claims for the starting six jersey in Japan later this year.
However, with Squire’s unreliability to stay out of the medical ward, and Frizell’s outstanding start to the year that’s overshadowed the efforts of his competitors nationwide, a change of guard at blindside flanker appears imminent at the Highlanders and All Blacks.
The Short Ball – The World Rugby Nations Championship Debacle:
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
27 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
27 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
27 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
27 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
27 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments