Squire, Frizell, Himeno, Mikaele-Tu'u, Harmon, Lentjes: Which loose forwards will start for the Highlanders?
With their 2021 Super Rugby Aotearoa campaign set for kick-off this Friday, the Highlanders are faced with a significant selection dilemma most squads would love to have.
Head coach Tony Brown will, in all likelihood, already know the players he will unleash against the Crusaders at Forsyth Barr Stadium on Friday, but many fans and pundits across the country remain in the dark as to who will start in franchise’s back row.
The southerners boast one of the strongest loose forward contingents in the competition, with six of their eight back rowers all genuine candidates to start throughout this season.
In fact, if any of them were at any other franchise – bar the Blues – they would all be certainties to start, but at the Highlanders, they will all have to jostle with one another for starting places for the entirety of the campaign.
Retaining star players Shannon Frizell and Marino Mikaele-Tu’u from last season, Brown has bolstered his squad with the additions of Japanese World Cup hero Kazuki Himeno and 23-test All Blacks enforcer Liam Squire.
Those four players will compete for just two places in the Highlanders’ starting lineup at blindside flanker and No. 8, while a further two players – ex-captain James Lentjes and new recruit Billy Harmon – will do battle for the openside flanker role.
Which combination of players is the best for the Highlanders is anyone’s guess considering the breadth of talent all six of those players give the Dunedin side, as well as the depth provided by teammates Teariki Ben-Nicholas and Sione Misiloi.
The only certainty is that Himeno won’t make his debut for his new team this weekend after only leaving his two-week quarantine facility on Monday.
Squire and Lentjes, meanwhile, are both bouncing back from respective injuries, with minor niggles sidelining the former throughout the Highlanders’ pre-season clashes.
The latter, however, impressed in his first match back since suffering a horror ankle and leg injury against the Melbourne Rebels almost a year ago, scoring a brace of tries from off the bench against the Hurricanes in Alexandra last Friday.
Given their recent injury statuses, though, it may be that neither play a starting role this week, but, with so many options and variables at hand, who knows what Brown’s preferred combination will be.
That hasn’t stopped recently-retired Blues hooker James Parsons from predicting how the Highlanders will shape up in the back row in Dunedin on Friday.
The announcement of Brad Weber as Chiefs co-captain on Tuesday means Sam Cane will also retain his leadership duties with the franchise – despite his role with the All Blacks. ?? @realmikepulmanhttps://t.co/2npIVB7KFd
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Speaking on the Aotearoa Rugby Pod, the former Blues centurion, who retired from all rugby last month, said Mikaele-Tu’u and Frizell stand as frontrunners to keep their No. 6 and No. 8 jerseys, adding that Harmon might have the inside running at No. 7.
“If you watched the game the other day [against the Hurricanes], I think Mikaele-Tu’u has to start,” Parsons told the Aotearoa Rugby Pod.
“The way he played, the way he carried, I think he’s in the No. 8 jersey and I think Frizell’s at No. 6.
“Lentjes coming back from a pretty tough injury, he scored a couple of tries [last weekend], but I think Harmon has gone down there and he’s probably got the inside running at the moment, just because of that injury that Jimmy Lentjes is coming back from.
“But, he’s a tough customer and really well liked in that environment, so I think that’s going to be a hard-fought battle for the No. 7 jersey, but Harmon might get the nod going against his old team this weekend.
Parsons reserved special praise for Mikaele-Tu’u, labelling the potential shown by 23-year-old throughout pre-season as “frightening”.
As the new Super Rugby Aotearoa season looms large on the horizon, a former All Black has named a 'Hype XV' made up of players to take note of over the coming weeks. #SuperRugbyAotearoa https://t.co/nwGOic1rFx
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“Honestly, Marino the other day, his carries and his contacts and his collision work was exceptional,” Parsons said.
“He looks like he’s going another gear, which is quite frightening because what he delivered last year in Super Rugby, and then what he did for Hawke’s Bay, and now what he’s delivered in pre-season, he’s a serious beast.
“I know he was a [starting] rookie last year, but he’s just going under the radar, another loose forward just to chuck in the mix in that All Blacks selection.
“He’s been spoken about, but if he can back it up again, he’s a hell of a worker in that Highlanders environment.”
Whether or not Parsons and Brown see eye-to-eye selection-wise will become clear when the Highlanders name their team to play this weekend on Wednesday morning.
Listen to the latest episode of the Aotearoa Rugby Pod below:
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Ben Smith and Ireland live rent free in Safa’s heads. Their comments only triggers because its true. If the Boks had dismantled a 14 man AB’s, then there would be more respect. But they didnt, in fact quite the opposite, the 14 man NZ were clearly better. And the Bok have always been ordinary between RWC’s, thats why their supporters are now ‘only RWC’s matter’. They know thats BS. Its BS to both AB’s and Bok’s due to their history. But now its all the Safas have. Now we’ll hear excuses when they lose “oh we didnt have all our players available, the ABs/France/Eng/Irel were at full strength”, forgetting for a minute that its because of their own dumb policy. Oh well, makes a change from blaming ‘cheating refs’.
23 Go to commentsNo Nick, they did not, in fact, justify any ‘probables’ label. At no time did they seriously compete for the championship. Ireland led from start to finish and in the end, as a result of glaring referee errors, were never under serious pressure to lose their crown.
28 Go to commentsMoney for him, and his family, has been the sole motivator since he signed for Queensland aged 17. Why else sign for Melbourne. Tupou is poorly advised. If he’d stayed and developed in NZ he would have had a long Test career. If Leinster offer him a few more coins than he’s currently earning, he’s goneburger.
4 Go to commentsFinn. No one would say Ford had played well up until the last game. One standout performance in 5 is hardly in form . It should be a given that a 10 will control play . Not in Fords case be praised for suddenly doing so. Where was he against Scotland ,Italy. The pundits were saying how far away from play he was standing and one even said that the Ireland game was his last chance saloon to perform . Not exactly top form catching anyones eye. If he can play like this game after game then great. Keep him in . But after 90 odd caps we all know he just doesnt keep it going . By all means keep him there but the issue is that Borthwick will persist even when he plays poorly. Which is more often than not. Thats why i am concerned that Smith ,despite fab form , cannot get a game at his preferred spot. Can you imagine Ford at full back .
5 Go to commentsI do not really get why put Ollivon at 6 when he’s a 7, while Cros was the best Frenchman of the tournament, playing at…6. His only game replacing Aldritt at 8 doesn’t change much in terms of his impact. Lamaro was also outstanding in that brilliant Italian side, probably better than Reffell. So putting 2 Welsh players from the wooden spoon holders, and none of the 4th nation (Scotland) is also strange. Is it about showing that in this harsh transition Wales is, there were some standouts…?
6 Go to commentsThe events at this year’s six nations should undermine many of the arguments made against promotion and relegation between the six nations and the REC. If Italy had been allowed to yo-yo between divisions it conceivably could have really hurt their development, but if Italy, Wales, and Scotland are all at risk of relegation, with none of them being relegated more often than once every 3 or 4 years, you’d have to back all of them to muddle on through it, especially when you factor in the likelihood they’ll still be guaranteed world league matches against tier 1 opponents. Another way of looking at italys resurgence would be to say that the development model of adding an extra team to the six nations has worked, and now must be done again. Georgia could join to make it a 7 team round robin, and if and when Georgia demonstrate an ability to consistently win games, Portugal can also be added to make it an 8 team 2 conference competition. Frankly at this point I think it falls to world rugby to demand that the 6N act in the interests of the game. If the 6N won’t commit to expansion then the 6N teams should be handicapped in world cup draws (i.e. world cup seedings would not be based on their ranking points, but on their ranking points minus a 5 point penalty).
5 Go to commentsSteve Borthwick deserves credit for releasing the shackles on his England side and letting them play in a manner that somewhat resembles the top sides in the Gallagher Premiership. Will they revert to type in New Zealand in July.?
28 Go to commentsJames Lowe wouldn't get in any other 6N team. He's a great example of Farrell’s brilliance, and the Irish system. He is slow. His footwork is poor. But he fits perfectly in that Irish system, and has a superb impact. But put him in another team, and he'll look bang average.
6 Go to commentsCrusaders reached their heights through recruitment of North Island players, often leaving those NI teams bereft of key players. Example: Scott Barrett and Sam Whitelock robbed the Canes of their lineout and AB locks. For years the Canes have struggled at lock. This rabid recruitment was iniated by rule changes by a Crusader dominated NZR Head Office. Now this aggressive recruitment has back-fired, going after young inside back Hamilton Boys stars. They now have 4 Chiefs region 10s and not one with the requisite experience at Super level. Problems of their own making!
2 Go to commentsOver rated for a long time…exposed at scrum time too.
4 Go to comments“Firing me” should have been Gatland’s answer.
2 Go to commentsFinn Russell logic: “World” = 4 countries. Ireland may be at or near the top. FR’s bigger concern should be he and his fellow Scots (incl. the Bloemfontein ones) sliding back down to below top 10
42 Go to commentsMind games have begun. Ireland learned their lesson after saying they could beat England with 13 players or whatever. Still, if they win at Loftus, that would be impressive - final frontier etc.
58 Go to comments$950k for a Prop that isn’t fit enough to play 10 mins of rugby? Surely there is someone better to replace Big Mike with
4 Go to commentsFour Kiwis in that backline. A solid statement on the lack of invention, risk-taking and joy in the NH game; game of attrition and head- banging tedium. Longterm medical problems aplenty in the future!
6 Go to commentsGood article, I learnt quite a lot. A big sliding door moment was in the mid 00s when they rejected Steve Anderson's long term transformation and he wrote Ireland's strategy instead.
2 Go to commentsHi Dr Nick! I'm worried that I've started to enjoy watching England and have actually wanted them to win their last two games. What would you prescribe? On a more serious note, I've noticed that the standard of play in March is often better than early February. Do you think this is because of the weather or because the players have been together for longer?
28 Go to commentsMy question in all this brett is who is going to wear the consequences of these actions? Surely just getting the sack isn’t sufficient? A teenager working the till at woolies would probably get taken to court if they took $20 out of the till. You mean to tell me that someone can spend $2.6 million and get away with it? Where was it spent? What companies/people were the beneficiaries etc? How is it just being talked about as an ‘oopsie’ and we all just move on and not a matter of the court for gross negligence, fraud, take your pick…
22 Go to commentslove Manu too but England have relied on him coming back from injury for far too long and not sorted the position with someone else long term . It will be a blessing he has gone . Huge shame he was so injury prone . God speed Manu .
3 Go to commentsI agree with Ben Smith about Brett Cameron. The No. 6 position has to be a monster and a genuine lineout option, like Ollivon, Lawes (now Chessum), Du Toit, etc. The only player who fits that bill right now is Scott Barrett. A fit and fizzing Tuipolotu together with one of the young towers, Sam Darry or Josh Lord, would give Razor the freedom to play Barret at 6.
16 Go to comments