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Highlanders dealt major blow as two key players set for lengthy sideline spell
By Sam Smith
The Highlanders may be consigned to being without two of their key players for the remainder of the Super Rugby Pacific season.
The Dunedin-based franchise confirmed on Tuesday that All Blacks flanker Shannon Frizell and promising lock Manaaki Selby-Rickit will both be sidelined for eight weeks with knee injuries.
Both players left the field injured during their side's 37-17 win over Moana Pasifika at Forsyth Barr Stadium last Friday, their first victory of the year, with Frizell lasting less than two minutes before being forced from the match.
Highlanders head coach Tony Brown feared the worst in the aftermath of the win, predicting he had lost both players - who has labelled as irreplaceable - for the season.
Those fears have been realised as, provided Frizell and Selby-Rickit recover without hitch, neither player will be available until the semi-final stage of the competition.
Whether the Highlanders make it that deep into Super Rugby Pacific remains to be seen, especially as they only have one win from seven matches thus far this season.
That lowly record leaves them in 10th spot, although they sit only five points astray from a play-offs place leading into their final match against Kiwi opposition (the Hurricanes) this weekend before a six-match stretch against Australian teams.
News of Frizell's interest will be of particular interest for the All Blacks given the 16-test international's impressive form this year.
With competition for loose forward spots in Ian Foster's squad fierce across the country, Frizell's injury may prove to be costly ahead of New Zealand's three-test series against Ireland in July.
More positively for the Highlanders, flanker Billy Harmon and midfielder Thomas Umaga-Jensen are both expected to return from injury as early as this weekend.
Umaga-Jensen, one of the stars of the season for the Highlanders, hasn't been sighted since injuring his groin against the Blues in Albany last month, while Harmon hasn't played at all this year after undergoing shoulder surgery last year.
However, both players are set to be available for selection this week when the Highlanders host the Hurricanes in Dunedin on Saturday.
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Latest Comments
Nah, that just needs some more variation. Chip kicks, grubber stabs, all those. Will Jordan showed a pretty good reason why the rush was bad for his link up with BB.
If you have an overlap on a rush defense, they naturally cover out and out and leave a huge gap near the ruck.
It also helps if both teams play the same rules. ARs set the offside line 1m past where the last mans feet were😅
Go to commentsYeah nar, should work for sure. I was just asking why would you do it that way?
It could be achieved by outsourcing all your IP and players to New Zealand, Japan, and America, with a big Super competition between those countries raking it in with all of Australia's best talent to help them at a club level. When there is enough of a following and players coming through internally, and from other international countries (starting out like Australia/without a pro scene), for these high profile clubs to compete without a heavy australian base, then RA could use all the money they'd saved over the decades to turn things around at home and fund 4 super sides of their own that would be good enough to compete.
That sounds like a great model to reset the game in Aus. Take a couple of decades to invest in youth and community networks before trying to become professional again. I just suggest most aussies would be a bit more optimistic they can make it work without the two decades without any pro club rugby bit.
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