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Highlanders bring All Black in to sure up forwards against in-form Brumbies

Shannon Frizell. Photo / Getty Images.

The Highlanders take on the in-form Brumbies at fortress Canberra on Saturday night.

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Head coach, Aaron Mauger, has largely stayed with the team from the first-round loss against the Sharks making only three selection changes to the starting fifteen.

In the forwards, All Blacks World Cup tourist Shannon Frizell comes into the starting side with Dillon Hunt dropping to the bench while Jesse Parete replaces an injured Pari Pari Parkinson in the second row. Parete’s promotion grants Jack Whetton a place in the matchday 23 for his first game of the 2020 season.

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The only change in the backs sees Patelesio Tomkinson come onto the right wing for Tima Fainga’anuku.

On the bench, Counties Manukau and Irish prop, Conan O’Donnell (who came into the squad for the injured Jeff Thwaites), gets an opportunity to impress this week

Mauger is well aware of the challenge his team will face in the capital city.

“[The Brumbies] are a tough team to play in Canberra and have a strong home record over the last few seasons, we are expecting a physical encounter on Saturday,” Mauger said.

“We took some positives out of our second-half performance last week, so we now have a good opportunity to build on that this round against the Brumbies.”

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Highlanders: Josh McKay, Patelesio Tompkinson, Rob Thompson, Josh Ioane, Jona Nareki, Mitch Hunt, Aaron Smith, Marino Mikaele Tu’u, James Lentjes (c), Shannon Frizell, Josh Dickson, Jesse Parete, Siate Tokolahi, Liam Coltman, Ayden Johnstone. Reserves: Ash Dixon, Daniel Lienert-Brown, Conan O’Donnell, Jack Whetton, Dillon Hunt, Kayne Hammington, Michael Collins, Teariki Ben-Nicholas.

– with Highlanders Rugby

Highlanders forwards coach Mark Hammet is looking forward to the challenge of the unbeaten Sharks:

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AM 39 minutes ago
'Freelancer' Izaia Perese shows the need for true inclusivity in Australian rugby

That's Cron's job though. Australia has had one of the most penalised scrums in international rugby for a long time. Just look at the scrum win loss percentage and scrum penalties. That is your evidence. AA has been the starter during that period. Pretty simple analysis. That Australia has had a poor scrum for a long time is hardly news. If bell and thor are not on the field they are woeful. So you are just plain wrong. They have very little time for the lions so doing the same old things that dont work is not going to get them there.


Ainsley is better than our next best tighthead options and has been playing well at scrum time for Lyon in the most competitive comp in the world. Superstar player? No. But better than the next best options. So that is a good enough guide. The scrummaging in the Prem is pretty good too so there is Sio's proof. Same analysis for him. Certainly better in both cases than Super, where the brumbies had the worst win loss and scrum pen in Super. Who plays there? Ohh yes... And the level of scrummaging in Super is well below the URC, prem and France with the SA teams out.


Nongorr is truly woeful. He's 130kg and gets shoved about. That just should not be happening at that weight for a specialist prop who has always played rugby cf pone with leauge. He has had enough time to develop at 23. You'd be better off with Pone who is at least good around the field for the moment and sending Nongorr on exchange to France or England to see if they can improve him with better coaching as happened with Skelton and Meafou. He isn't going to develop in time in super if he has it at all.


Latu is a better scrummaging hooker than BPA and Nasser. and he's the best aussie player over the ball at ruck time. McReight's super jackling percentage hasnt converted to international level but latu consistently does it at heniken level, which is similar to test level in the big games. With good coaching at La Rochelle he's much improved though still has the odd shocker. He should start the November games.

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