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Under-fire All Blacks star absent as Highlanders make raft of changes for Reds clash

(Photo by Dianne Manson/Getty Images)

The Highlanders will be without under-fire All Blacks star Shannon Frizell for their opening Super Rugby Trans-Tasman clash against the Reds in Dunedin on Friday.

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Frizell made headlines earlier this week after he was allegedly involved in an assault on a women at a Dunedin bar in the early hours of Sunday morning.

The 27-year-old, who was arguably the best player for the Highlanders throughout Super Rugby Aotearoa, has subsequently missed out on selection for this week’s side to face the newly-crowned Super Rugby AU champions.

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In his place comes young loose forward Hugh Renton, who comes into the side at blindside flanker as one of six alterations to the starting side that lost to the Hurricanes in Wellington a fortnight ago.

The Highlanders have also welcomed back enormous lock Pari Pari Parkinson, who has been out of action since April 10 when he re-injured the same ankle he had surgery on last year during his side’s extra-time defeat to the Chiefs in Dunedin.

Parkinson, who has a physical frame of 2.04m and 130kg, partners with Josh Dickson in the second row, while Ayden Johnstone replaces the highly-promising Ethan de Groot at loosehead prop.

In the backline, Michael Collins, who was recently announced as a new signing for Welsh PRO14 side Ospreys, has been named in the starting XV for the first time in six weeks.

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His inclusion at centre has forced a positional re-shuffle, with Patelesio Tomkinson moving to the right wing, which has forced youngster Sam Gilbert to fullback in place of former All Blacks star Nehe Milner-Skudder, who misses out altogether.

Of those who started against the Hurricanes in their final Super Rugby Aotearoa clash, De Groot and lock Bryn Evans have been demoted to the bench, while there are two further new additions in the reserves.

Young outside back Ngatungane Punivai returns from a quadricep injury to be named in the No. 23 jersey, while Tasman first-five Tim O’Malley, who has come into the side as injury cover, could make his Super Rugby debut.

Kick-off for Friday’s clash at Forsyth Barr Stadium is scheduled for 7:05pm [NZT].

Highlanders team to face the Reds

1. Ayden Johnstone
2. Ash Dixon (co-c)
3. Siate Tokolahi
4. Pari Pari Parkinson
5. Josh Dickson
6. Hugh Renton
7. Billy Harmon
8. Kazuki Himeno
9. Aaron Smith (co-c)
10. Mitch Hunt
11. Jona Nareki
12. Scott Gregory
13. Michael Collins
14. Patelesio Tomkinson
15. Sam Gilbert

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Reserves:

16. Liam Coltman
17. Ethan de Groot
18. Josh Hohneck
19. Bryn Evans
20. James Lentjes
21. Kayne Hammington
22. Tim O’Malley
23. Ngatungane Punivai

Listen to the latest episode of the Aotearoa Rugby Pod below:

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f
fl 51 minutes ago
Ex-Wallaby laughs off claims Bath are amongst the best in the world

“Yes I wrote that, because you had Leinster as the best team in the world. What was that based on - winning the URC this season?”

It was based on Leinster’s performances over the course of this season, and on their trophy. If Bordeaux beat Toulouse then I’ll change my mind and move them to first. But as it is I expect Bordeaux, Toulouse, and Leinster to all finish with one trophy each, and with Leinster having produced the best week-on-week performances of the three.


“One of those teams won the league in each of those years so yes they were worse. If I was a fan of either of those four teams I would rather have been a fan of a team that won a trophy than didn’t.”

That’s true - I would too. With regard to Stormers I think their trophy was very much enabled by the fact that they weren’t playing in europe, so were able to rest their players much more than the non-SA teams were so I’m not sure whether I would or wouldn’t consider them to have had a better season than Leinster in 2022, but clearly Munster and Glasgow (respectively) had better seasons than Leinster in 2023 and 2024. But if I was a fan of one of those 3 teams I would rather be a fan of a team that won 66 URC+CC matches over the course of 3 seasons (Leinster) than a team that won 46 (Munster) or 42 (Glasgow). If you think trophies are literally the only thing that matters, do you think Blackburn Rovers are a more successful Premier League team than Tottenham Hotspur are?


“You contradict yourself alot. Trophies matter in one post and in the same post coming second consistently makes you better.”

Its going to get really frustrating if you’re not willing to read what I write. I said: “Trophies matter. They matter a lot. But so does winning games. So does making finals.” How does that contradict my assessment that Leinster were better than Stormers?


“I doubt Leinster would say they have been the better team in any of the seasons you keep going on about.”

Teams generally downplay talk of them being the best, so that wouldn’t surprise me. But crucially I don’t think Leinster were the best team in 2022, or in 2023, or in 2024, so I’m not sure what you think you’re responding to.


“Lets make it clear though - you are the one who went on and on about previous seasons with your deep dive into la Rochelle and Stormers etc.”

Yeah - I did that because you brought up Leinster’s trophyless record from 2022-2024, so I thought that was worth responding to. If you’d like though I can stop responding to the things you say?

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