Frizell has inside running for No 6 jersey but not the only one 'training the house down'

Shannon Frizell has the honour of being the first to grace the All Blacks No 6 jersey in 2023, but head coach Ian Foster says there are a number of players waiting in the wings, putting pressure on the 29-year-old.

Blindside flanker has been a hotly contested position for the All Blacks during Foster’s reign, Scott Barrett was the last man to don the No 6 jersey in the All Blacks’ final match of 2023.

Barrett and Frizell have previously been competing with the likes of Akira Ioane, Ethan Blackadder and Dalton Papali’i for the position but this year the primary competitors are Chiefs pair Samipeni Finau and Luke Jacobson.

Jacobson has been around the All Blacks environment since 2019 but a challenging run of injuries has seen the utility forward fail to hit top gear in recent seasons, even missing selection in 2022. Now fit and firing, Jacobson has put together a dominant season for the Chiefs while playing No 8.

The young Samipeni Finau’s form was too strong for Chiefs coach Clayton McMillan to resist as the 24-year-old replaced former All Black Pita Gus Sowakula in the starting unit in Super Rugby Pacific. Ian Foster admits he’s seen a lot that he likes from Finau who is nipping at the heels of the starting Frizell.

“Shannon’s played for us for a number of seasons, he’s performed really, really well and we’ve got a lot of faith in him and that experience to really put him in a good place and help us start this season strong.

“Like all the others, he’ll be feeling the pressure of that but that’s what comes with being named in a Test team.

“In terms of what we want out of him, Shannon’s athletic, he brings a physicality to the defensive role and also to his ball carry and they’re two things that he’s good at but he just needs to go out and do that and show that he’s capable of performing at the level that he has been in the past so that’s his challenge.

“Behind that, there’s some other guys, they’ve been training the house down too. I’ve been impressed with Samipeni Finau, the way he’s gone about his work. Him and Luke Jacobson are pushing hard in that space.

“Plenty of competition, but we’ve got a lot of faith in Shannon and I know he’s preparing well for Saturday.”

While Foster expressed the team’s top priority during The Rugby Championship is to continue building combinations, he also voiced his willingness to give players a chance at game time if they were deemed ready.

A healthy Sam Whitelock could yet open up the door for Scott Barrett to shift to blindside and a further consideration to the selection debate is a potential return of Ethan Blackadder who was not considered for selection in The Rugby Championship squad due to injury.