Shannon Frizell steamrolls Springboks fullback Willie le Roux on his way to a try. Photo / Photosport
Shannon Frizell steamrolls Springboks fullback Willie le Roux on his way to a try. Photo / Photosport
Savour Shannon Frizell’s destructive efforts while you can. The great irony, and perhaps regret, of Frizell’s breakout performances for the All Blacks is his looming exit from New Zealand rugby.
With a rampaging one-two punch, Frizell has shattered long-held ambiguity surrounding New Zealand’s best blindside option to surely nail oneof the few remaining contestable positions in the All Blacks’ first-choice team — only to then depart in his prime to Japanese club Toshiba following the World Cup.
The All Blacks started this season weighing multiple blindside candidates. Akira Ioane featured heavily in plans over the past two years before falling out of favour. Scott Barrett switching from lock to the side of the scrum offers another lineout weapon. Luke Jacobson staked his claim during the Chiefs’ surge to the Super Rugby Pacific final. And Ethan Blackadder’s injury troubles consign him to waiting in the wings, losing ground.
Two tests into the World Cup year, Frizell suddenly appears the bolted-on blindside to leave left wing, lock and hooker — which way ‘round Codie Taylor and Samisoni Taukei’aho start — as the only contestable positions in the All Blacks’ preferred starting team.
There’s no precise reasoning behind Frizell finally seizing the No. 6 jersey in such a compelling fashion. Spending time at lock for the Highlanders may have tightened his core duties. More pressingly, though, with his time in the All Blacks coming to a close after the World Cup, Frizell seems intent on leaving his mark.
All Blacks loose forward Shannon Frizell celebrates with teammates during their victory over the Springboks. Photo / Photosport
No doubt selection pressure and a hard-line simplicity to his brief brought by forwards coach Jason Ryan have contributed to awakening Frizell’s inner beast.
That was always there — just not often enough to rely on. In fits and starts, Frizell has bent and broken the line while producing punishing defence. He’s never been a flat-track bully — the type of enforcer who relishes beating on lightweight Australian opposition, only to fade from view when confronted with menacing packs.
Promoted to start as the pressure valve threatened to burst last year, Frizell delivered immediate ball-carrying impact and physicality to help propel the All Blacks to an upset triumph against the Springboks at Ellis Park to save Ian Foster’s tenure.
In 20 test starts, Frizell has not provided that elite consistent impact, though. Herein lies the chicken and egg scenario. The All Blacks, prior to this season, haven’t trusted Frizell to reward him with repetitive starts. Now, though, after successive stand-out efforts against the Pumas and Springboks, Frizell is performing as though he belongs. And the starts have followed.
When Springboks legend Schalk Burger and former All Blacks captain Kieran Read extol your influence, you are singing the brutal blindside hymn.
While steamrolling Springboks fullback Willie le Roux is the obvious highlight from Mt Smart Stadium, Frizell’s work rate in the opening quarter blitz set the tone against the Springboks. Down, up, carry, clean, tackle, jackal. Frizell was everywhere. In doing so, and adding footwork at the line to his game, he’s set the bar. Not just for others, but for himself to continually aspire to.
Shannon Frizell charges over against the Springboks. Photo / Photosport
Unless injuries strike the All Blacks’ stacked loose forwards, Ioane is unlikely to feature in World Cup plans. Barrett, Jacobson and Blackadder remain live options at six, but Frizell has clearly blunted their appeal.
When Sam Whitelock returns from his Achilles injury for the opening Bledisloe at the Melbourne Cricket Ground next week, the All Blacks face selection headaches at lock after Barrett and Brodie Retallick’s tag team efforts quelled the Boks.
Barrett was used against the Wallabies at six last year in Melbourne, but the pace next week’s return test will embrace should suit a more natural blindside.
The world’s best loose forward trios harness balance. Comparisons to Read-Richie McCaw-Jeromie Kaino are fraught and unfair. Yet it’s a reminder of the style of six that typically suits the All Blacks approach — one in which Frizell fits the mould.
Jacobson’s chance to impress — in his first test for 20 months — is likely to come against the Wallabies, too. His versatility to cover all three loose forward roles could yet make him a prime World Cup bench candidate.
Blackadder’s presence within the squad while injured speaks to the regard in which he is held, but with two tests before the World Cup squad is named, time to press his case is fast evaporating.
At this point, Frizell can do no more to fleetingly retain the jersey he will relinquish by the end of the year.
“He’s been simmering along all Super season,” All Blacks coach Ian Foster noted. “We’ve always had a lot of faith in Shannon. When he’s put a black jersey on, he’s always played well. Sometimes players take a while to get that 100 per cent belief at test level. Perhaps he’s been one of those, I don’t know.
“We’ve got his roles a bit clearer. He deserves the credit. We’ve been really clear about the opportunity that’s there for him, and he’s taken it. Sometimes it’s a bit of selection pressure, experience, and he’s playing like a man who really wants it.
“Putting it together in a complete package is probably what we saw. He stayed focused. You saw him double up tasks. There was a variety to his game that was pretty special.”
