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Shannon Frizell set for 50th cap as Highlanders team named for Chiefs

(Photo by Dianne Manson/Getty Images)

The Highlanders have named their first team of the DHL Super Rugby Pacific season to play the Chiefs on Saturday in Queenstown.

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The team have finished their second week in the Queenstown Super Rugby bubble and recovered well following the Game of Three Halves over the weekend against the Chiefs and Blues.

Shannon Frizell will run out for his 50th Highlander’s game this weekend. Frizell debuted for the club in 2018 following two strong seasons with the Tasman Mako. Since joining the club he has been a massive contributor to the team scoring 17 tries throughout his 49 games to date. His performance was rewarded by being selected for the All Blacks in 2019, he has since played 17 tests for them.

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Highlanders head coach Tony Brown praised the work of Frizell to reach his milestone match with the club.

“Shannon has made an impact on the field from the moment he first arrived here. He’s a strong ball carrier and has been one of our most consistent forwards over the last few seasons,” he said.

“His selection for the All Blacks is a well-earned reward for a lot of hard work put in on the training field. No doubt he will be looking forward to running out for his 50th match for a team he cares a lot about.”

Jermaine Ainsley and Fetuli Paea will both have their long-awaited debuts for the club this weekend. Both players missed the full 2021 season due to injury.

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Josh Timu and Mosese Dawii are also set to debut; this will be Timu’s first full season of Super Rugby in New Zealand after playing for the Sunwolves in Japan and then for the Crusaders as injury cover in 2021. Mosese is in his first season at Super Rugby level, the Fijian born winger made his mark in the NPC Premiership last season with the winning Waikato team.

Excited to see what the debutants could bring to the game on Saturday, Brown commented, “Jermaine and Fetuli have both had to be patient and put in the hard yards behind closed doors to get to this point. I’m really excited to see them finally get their Highlander debuts on Saturday night and Josh has been in our camp for pre-season before but hasn’t had the opportunity to run out for a competition game. Being able to finally get his name up on the Highlanders board will mean a lot to Josh and his family.”

The game will be played behind closed doors again due to red light restrictions. However, it will be available to watch on Sky Sport 1.

Highlanders team to play the Chiefs – 4:35pm Saturday 19th February, Queenstown

  1. Ethan de Groot
  2. Liam Coltman
  3. Jermaine Ainsley *
  4.  Manaaki Selby-Rickit
  5. Josh Dickson
  6. Shannon Frizell **
  7. James Lentjes (Co-Vice Captain)
  8. Gareth Evans
  9. Aaron Smith (Captain)
  10. Mitch Hunt (Co-Vice Captain)
  11. Josh Timu *
  12. Scott Gregory
  13.  Fetuli Paea *
  14. Mosese Dawai *
  15. Sam Gilbert

Reserves

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16. Andrew Makalio *
17. Daniel Lienert-Brown
18. Josh Hohneck
19. Bryn Evans
20. Marino Mikaele-Tu’u
21. Folau Fakatava
22. Marty Banks
23. Thomas Umaga-Jensen

*Debut
**50th Game

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Easy_Duzz-it 21 minutes ago
Are the All Blacks doomed to a 70% flatline?

The world never caught up the All Blacks just went backwards . After 2015 they had a plan to build the team around 2 players . Sam Cane and Beauden Barrett , Cane was hailed as the next Mccaw and Barrett the next carter . Unfortunately Cane sustained too many injures and Barrett despite being a great ball runner didn't have a high enough conversion rate or the game management skills to control the team and the game . Then to make matters worst , the selections were so bad year after year the forward pack became shockingly weak .

New Zealand had so much talent wasted betwen 2016 - 2023 . Laumape , elliot dixon , ben tamefuna , pita gus , ben lam , vaea fifita and so many other in form players that never got a look or the time to develop into great All Blacks .


Then you have the dual playmaker system that never worked , but they kept using it . why ? cause some men cant admit when they're wrong . thats the All Blacks between 2016-2023 . wrong coaches with the wrong vision , going in the wrong direction . now it appears the world caught up . but like I said the world never caught up . then you add the obvious flawed referee calls that happen to go against us more often then for us now . the worst of which that never gets called is when the opposition use rush defence but have players offside . this has been going for years , but who cares ? .


anyway its almost 10 and i need to get some shut eye .

Go the might All Blacks !!!!

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