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'Really impressive': Tony Brown backs Highlanders stars for All Blacks selection
After a year without some of his most promising prospects, Highlanders head coach Tony Brown is excited to have a host of returning stars back in action this weekend.
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While it is by no means his strongest possible lineup, Brown has welcomed back numerous players who have barely played for the Highlanders in recent times for the franchise’s Farmlands Cup pre-season clash with the Crusaders in Oamaru on Friday.
Chief among the list of names who have been bereft of game time but will feature in today’s fixture include halfback Folau Fakatava, midfielders Thomas Umaga-Jensen and Fetuli Paea, and ex-Wallabies prop Jermaine Ainsley.
All four players had limited or zero involvement in last year’s Super Rugby Aotearoa and Super Rugby Trans-Tasman campaigns due to long-term injuries.
Both Paea, a two-test Tongan international, and Ainsley were heralded as significant signings leading into last year, but were ruled out for the entire Super Rugby season after sustaining high ankle sprains during pre-season.
Fakatava, meanwhile, only featured in a handful of matches before rupturing his ACL in the Highlanders’ famous away win over the Crusaders in April.
That robbed him of a likely call-up to the All Blacks, while Umaga-Jensen’s horror injury run extended into last year as he played just twice, bringing his appearance tally for the Highlanders to just 10 matches in four seasons.
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Without those four players, and an array of other injured and unavailable players throughout the course of last year, the Highlanders were never able to field a truly full-strength side in 2021.
However, while there are still a plethora of absentees from Friday’s match against their South Island rivals, the Highlanders will undoubtedly welcome the quartet back into action after they were all named to start at Weston Park.
All four players possess plenty of talent and potential, which could catapult them into the selection frame for the All Blacks should they stay injury-free and play their way into form.
Even Paea and Ainsley – neither of whom have played internationally since 2017 and 2018, respectively – could prove to be test-worthy candidates for New Zealand following World Rugby’s overhauled eligibility rules.
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Speaking to media on Friday, Brown said the concept of Ainsley swapping the green and gold of Australia for the black of New Zealand shouldn’t be eliminated as he spoke of his excitement about the 26-year-old’s return.
“He unfortunately had a season-ending injury in the last training before we played the Crusaders in last year’s Farmlands Cup, so he’s lasted one more day,” Brown said of Ainsley.
“Hopefully he can go out and play well for the Highlanders and have a big campaign for us.
“He was a big loss for us last year, so hopefully he can get himself in the right sort of condition and be injury-free and, now with the new rules, he can press for All Blacks selection.
“To be honest, I haven’t seen him play, but I know that he’s played for the Wallabies, obviously, and he’s still a young tighthead prop, still learning his trade, so it’d be silly to not say that, at some stage, will be in contention.”
Brown spoke similarly highly about the comebacks of Fakatava and Umaga-Jensen, with the latter set to finally combine with Paea to create a powerful midfield partnership that never came to fruition last year.
“They’ve all got individual x-factor that can win [games],” Brown said of all three players.
“Folau’s been really impressive in training. It’s really exciting to see him back to, hopefully, the form he showed in 2021, and Thomas Umaga-Jensen has had a horrible run of injuries over the last sort of three years.
“He’s probably one guy in our team, if he has a good campaign, he’ll put his hand up for All Blacks selection.”
The presence of Fakatava, Umaga-Jensen, Ainsley and Paea will help offset the absence of All Blacks trio Aaron Smith, Shannon Frizell and Ethan de Groot as they remain on extended leave following last year’s international campaign.
They will be available for round one of Super Rugby Pacific, though, but the Highlanders may be forced to wait longer for some of their other squad members who have been deemed unavailable for their pre-season bout with the Crusaders.
Connor Garden-Bachop, last year’s Super Rugby Aotearoa Rookie of the Year, is out until at least round two of the competition due injury, while outside back Solomon Alaimalo is out indefinitely due to personal reasons.
Loosehead prop Ayden Johnstone is also battling glandular fever, but the Highlanders forward pack will be bolstered by the return of loose forward Marino Mikaele-Tu’u and former All Blacks lock Bryn Evans next week.
Kick-off for Friday’s clash between the Highlanders and Crusaders in Oamaru is scheduled for 4pm.
Highlanders team to play the Crusaders
1. Daniel Lienert-Brown
2. Liam Coltman
3. Jermaine Ainsley
4. Manaaki Selby-Rickit
5. Josh Dickson
6. Gareth Evans
7. James Lentjes (C)
8. Hugh Renton
9. Folau Fakatava
10. Mitch Hunt
11. Scott Gregory
12. Thomas Umaga-Jensen
13. Fetuli Paea
14. Mosese Dawai
15. Sam Gilbert
Reserves: Luca Inch, Rhys Marshall, Flynn Thomas, Josh Hohneck, Saula Mau, Sam Caird, Fabian Holland, Sam Fischli, Sean Withy, Christian Lio-Willie, Kayne Hammington, Nathan Hastie, Marty Banks, Cam Millar, Vereniki Tikoisolomone, Ngatungane Punivai, Josh Timu, Rory van Vugt.
Comments on RugbyPass
I think Matt Proctor became a 1 test AB in the same fixture. Cameron is quality and has been great this season, can’t believe’s he only 27. Realistically how would he not be selected for ABs squad this year. Only Dmac is ahead of him as a specialist 10. With Jordan out, it will come down to where and when Beauden Barrett slots back in, and where they want to play Ruben Love. Cameron seems an absolute lock in for the wider squad though. Added benefit of TJ-Cameron-Jordie combination at 9, 10, 11 too.
1 Go to commentsFarcical, to what end would someone want to pay to keep this thing going.
1 Go to commentsHavili, our best 12 by a mile, will be in the squad, if he stays fit. JB is the most overrated AB in the last 50 years.
61 Go to commentsWe had during the week twilight footy, twilight cricket, tw golf plus there was the athletics club. Then the weekend was rugby 15s plus the net ball, really busy club scene back then but so much has changed and rugby has suffered. And it was all about changing lifestyles.
6 Go to commentsIn the 70s and 80s my club ran 5 Senior sides plus a Vets. Now it is 2 sides with an occasional 3rd team. Players have difficulty getting to training now, not sure why and the commitment is not there. It seems to me more a problem of people applying themselves and not expecting to turn up and play whenever they want to.
6 Go to commentsROG’s contract is until 2027. The conversation about a successor to Galthie after RWC 2027 may be starting now. We can infer that Galthie’s reign stops then. He is throwing the Irish Coaching Job angle in because he is Irish. The next Irish coach MUST be Leo Cullen. As well as being the best coach available, coaching the vast majority of Irish Internationals week in week out, he has shown incredible skill at recruiting the best coaching staff for the job in hand. That was a failing in France. Cullen is a shrewd guy and if there is a need for foreign coaches underneath him he won’t hesitate. Rightly so. Ireland does need to start to bring Irish coaches through. Not just at the professional level but we need to train coaches to man new pathways for developing kids from schools/clubs up through the divisions.
8 Go to commentsNo Islam says it must rule where it stands Thus it is to be deleted from this planet Earth
18 Go to commentsThis team probably does not beat the ABs sadly Not sure if BPA will be available given his signing for Force but has to enter consideration. Very strong possibility of getting schooled by the AB props. Advantage AB. Rodda/Skelton would be a tasty locking combination - would love to see how they get on. Advantage Wallabies. Backrow a risk of getting out hustled and outmuscled by ABs. Will be interesting to see if the Blues feast on the Reds this weekend the way they did the Brumbies we are in big trouble at the breakdown. Great energy, running and defence but goalkicking/general kicking/passing quality in the halves bothers me enormously. SA may have won the World Cup for a lot of the tournament without a recognised goalkicker but Pollard in the final made a difference IMO. Injuries and retirements leave AB stocks a bit lighter but still stronger. 12 and 13 ABs shade it (Barret > Paisami, Ione = Ikitau, arguably) Interesting clash of styles on the wings - Corey Toole running around Caleb Clark and Caleb running over the top of Toole. Reece vs Koro probably the reverse. Pretty even IMO. 15s Kelleway = Love See advantage to ABs man for man, but we are not obviously getting slaughtered anywhere which makes a nice change. Think talent wise we are pretty even and if our cohesion and teamwork is better than the ABs then its just about doable.
11 Go to commentsCompletely agree. More friday night games would be a hit. RFU to make sure every club has a floodlit pitch. Club opens again Saturday to welcome touch / tag. Minis and youths on Sunday
6 Go to comments1.97m and 105Kg? Proportionately, probably skinnier than me at 1.82 and 82kilos. He won’t survive against the big guys at that weight.
55 Go to commentsThe value he brought to the crusaders as an assistant was equal to what he got out of being there. He reflected not only on the team culture but also the credit he attributed to the rugby community. Such experience shouldn’t be overlooked.
8 Go to commentsGood luck Aussie
11 Go to commentssmith at 9 / mounga 10 / laumape 12 / fainganuku 14
61 Go to commentsBar the injuries, it’s pretty much their top team …
2 Go to commentsDon’t disagree with much of this but it appears you forgot Rodda and Beale, who started at the Force on the weekend.
11 Go to commentsExcept for the injured Zach Gallagher this would be Saders best forward pack for the season. Blackadder needs to stay at 7, for all of Christies tackling he is not dominant and offers very little else. McNicholfullback is maybe a good option, Fihaki not really upto it, there was a reason Burke played there last year. Maybe Havilli to 2nd five McLeod to wing. Need a strong winger on 1 side to compliment Reece
1 Go to commentsTo me TJ is clearly the best 9 in the competition right now but he's also a proven player off the bench, there's few playmaking players who can come off the bench as calm and settled as he is, Beauden can, TJ can and I doubt any of the scrumhalves in contention can, if they want to experiment with new 9s I want him on the bench ready to step in if they crumble under the pressure. The Boks put their best front row on the bench, I'd like to see us take a similar approach, the Hurricanes have been doing similar things with players like Kirifi.
61 Go to commentsROG has better chance to win a WC if he starts training and make himself eligible as a player. He won’t make the Ireland squad but I reckon he may get close with Namibia (needs to improve his Afrikaans) or Portugal. Both sides had 1000:1 odds to win the RWC in 2023 which is an improvement on ROG’s odds of winning a RWC as a coach. Unlike Top 14 teams, national teams can’t go shopping and buy the best players - you work with the available talent pool and turn them into world beaters.
8 Go to commentsthat backline nope that backline is terrible why would you have sevu Reece when he’s not even top 5 wingers in the comp why have Blackadder when there’s better players no Scott barret isn’t an automatic the guy is more of a liability than anything why have him there when you have samipeni who’s far far better
61 Go to commentsAh, good to find you Nick. Agree with everything about Cale. So much to like about his game
55 Go to comments