Shannon Michael Frizell (born 11 February 1994) is a Tongan born New Zealand

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player. His position of choice is flanker.

Early life

Frizell was born and raised in Folaha,

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

and started his childhood playing football for Folaha Football Club. His adoptive brother,

Tyson Frizell Tyson Lomano David Frizell (born 9 October 1991) is a professional rugby league footballer who usually plays as a er for the Newcastle Knights in the NRL. He has played for Wales in the 2011 Four Nations and 2013 Rugby League World Cup and Aust ...

, plays in the

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

. In 2010 and 2011 he played for the

Tonga national under-17 football team The Tonga national under-17 football team represents Tonga in international under-17 or youth football competitions and is controlled by the Tonga Football Association. Competition record FIFA U-17 World Cup record OFC U-17 Championship record ...

. He represented the

at the 2011 OFC U-17 Championship in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

Playing career

Early career

In 2011, he switched from Football to Rugby, he started playing for 'Apifo'ou College and represented Tonga U20 at the

IRB Junior World Rugby Trophy The World Rugby Under 20 Trophy (known as the IRB Junior World Rugby Trophy until 2014) is an international rugby union competition. The event is organised by the sport's governing body, World Rugby, and is contested by 8 men's junior national tea ...

in 2014, before moving to

in 2015, initially on a development contract with .

Senior career

On 20 April 2018, Frizell scored three tries against the in a

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...

match at

Eden Park Eden Park is New Zealand's largest sports stadium, with a capacity of 50,000. Located in central Auckland, New Zealand's largest city, it is three kilometres southwest of the CBD, on the boundary between the suburbs of Mount Eden and King ...

. His performances for the Highlanders earned him a call up for New Zealand's national rugby team, the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987 ...

, having been tipped by the media for an unlikely All Black debut. With injury to

Vaea Fifita Vaea Tangitau Lapota Fifita (born 17 June 1992) is a Tongan Rugby Union, rugby union player who currently plays for the Scarlets. Previously he was a Lock (rugby union), lock or Flanker (rugby union), loose forward for the in the international ...

, Frizell made his debut for the All Blacks on 23 June 2018 against France. Frizell started the game at blindside flanker, playing 71 minutes on debut. Frizell had to be taken to the blood bin in the 22nd minute, due to an eye injury, so was temporarily replaced by Highlanders team mate

Jackson Hemopo Jackson Nikora Hemopo (born 14 November 1993) is a New Zealand All Black and rugby union player who currently plays as a lock or loose forward for in New Zealand's domestic Mitre 10 Cup and the in the international Super Rugby competition. ...

, who was also on debut for New Zealand. Frizell came back on in the 31st minute and stayed on for the rest of the test, which the All Blacks won 49-14. Frizell went on to start three times for the All Blacks during the

2018 Rugby Championship The 2018 Rugby Championship was the seventh edition of the expanded annual southern hemisphere Rugby Championship, featuring Argentina, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand. The competition is operated by SANZAAR, a joint venture of the four ...

, in the absence of the injured regular starter, Liam Squire. Frizell was one of the standout performers in the first test against Argentina, on 8 September, playing the full 80 minutes at his homeground in Nelson, scoring his first try for the All Blacks as they won 46-24. Frizell unfortunately failed to make an impact in the final two tests of the competition, including the 32-30 victory over South Africa, on 6 October. It was 6-6 at halftime, with Frizell subbed off 46 minutes into the test. With Vaea Fifita recalled, Frizell was dropped for the All Blacks end of year tour in 2018. Rookies Gareth Evans,

Dillon Hunt Dillon Hunt (born 23 February 1995) is a New Zealand former rugby union player who played for the Highlanders in the Super Rugby competition. His position of choice was flanker. Career Hunt was called into the Highlanders squad in 2017 as an ...

and

Dalton Papalii Dalton Reece Papalii ("Pa-pa-lee-e") is a New Zealand rugby union player who plays for Counties Manukau in the Mitre 10 Cup and the in the Super Rugby competition. Papalii has played 22 tests for the All Blacks, New Zealand's international tea ...

were also chosen over Frizell. After some strong performances in the

2019 Super Rugby season The 2019 Super Rugby season was the 24th season of Super Rugby, an annual rugby union competition organised by SANZAAR between teams from Argentina, Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Africa. The 2019 season was the second season using the ...

, where he was among the highest try scorers, with six tries, Frizell earned a recall for New Zealand's 39 man Rugby Championship squad. In July 2019, Frizell and four other players, including Highlanders teammate,

Josh Ioane Joshua R. Ioane (born 11 July 1995) is a New Zealand rugby union player who plays for Otago in the Mitre 10 Cup and the in Super Rugby. His position of choice is fly-half. Early life Born in Auckland. Ioane moved to Otago for university, afte ...

, were dropped from the All Blacks, having performed poorly against South Africa in a 16-16 draw. Frizell was released to Tasman for the

2019 Mitre 10 Cup The 2019 Mitre 10 Cup season was the fourteenth season of New Zealand's provincial rugby union competition since it turned professional in 2006. The regular season began on August 8, when Southland hosted Northland. It involved the top fourtee ...

Luke Jacobson Luke Brittain Jacobson (born 20 April 1997) is a New Zealand rugby union player who plays for the in the Super Rugby competition, and for the All Blacks. His plays in the forward pack. Jacobson made the New Zealand Schools team in 2014. He ...

's concussion problems continued, which ruled him out of the

2019 Rugby World Cup The 2019 Rugby World Cup was the ninth edition of the Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's rugby union teams. It was hosted in Japan from 20 September to 2 November in 12 venues all across the country. The opening match ...

, to Frizell's benefit. Frizell immediately flew to Japan after Jacobson's injury, to rejoin the 31 man All Blacks squad. He played 1 match off the bench versus South Africa and started against Canada and Namibia scoring a try in the Canada test. Frizell was named in the

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...

squad for the

North vs South rugby union match The North vs South match, sometimes known as the Interisland match was a longstanding rugby union fixture in New Zealand between the North Island and South Island teams. The first match was played on 30 June 1897 at Wellington's Athletic Park, a ...

in 2020, starting in the number 6 jersey in a 38-35 win for the South. He continued his stay in the

, named in the squad for the

2020 Rugby Championship The 2020 Tri Nations Series was the seventeenth edition of the annual southern hemisphere competition, involving Argentina, Australia and New Zealand. On 16 October 2020, 2019 Rugby Championship winners and 2019 Rugby World Cup champions South A ...

Frizell established himself as the first choice number 6 with starts against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

in a 16-16 draw, a 27-7 win and a 5-43 win. Frizell was one of the best players during the

2021 Super Rugby Aotearoa season The 2021 Super Rugby Aotearoa season (branded as Sky Super Rugby Aotearoa for sponsorship reasons) was a professional club rugby union tournament organised by New Zealand Rugby. Announced on 11 November 2020, the tournament was the second sea ...

and was again named in the

squad to play

and

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

in the July Steinlager Series. In Round 1 of the

2022 Super Rugby Pacific season The 2022 Super Rugby Pacific season (known as Harvey Norman Super Rugby Pacific in Australia and DHL Super Rugby Pacific in New Zealand) is the 27th season of Super Rugby, an annual rugby union competition organised by SANZAAR between teams fr ...

Frizell played his 50th game for the Highlanders against the .

International Tries

''As of 30 July 2023''

Assault case

Frizell attacked and punched a woman before attacking a male who attempted to defend her during a late night incident on May 9, 2021. Frizell was charged with two counts of assault against the woman, and a further one against the man. He also sent an abusive social media message to a friend of one of the victims. "F*** you b**** tell your friend to hide I'm gonna f*** everyone's up f*** with the wrong guy," it read. A conviction was not recorded after he pled guilty and completed Police diversion.

Honours

New Zealand *

Rugby World Cup The Rugby World Cup is a men's rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams. The tournament is administered by World Rugby, the sport's international governing body. The winners are awarded the Webb E ...

Webb Ellis Cup The Webb Ellis Cup is the trophy awarded to the winner of the men's Rugby World Cup, the premier competition in men's international rugby union. The Cup is named after William Webb Ellis, who is often credited as being the inventor of rugby footba ...

**Third-place:

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

**Second-place:

2023 Events Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 ** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1927 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law. ** Croatia will adopt the eu ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Frizell, Shannon 1994 births Living people Rugby union players from Tongatapu New Zealand rugby union players New Zealand international rugby union players Tongan rugby union players Tongan emigrants to New Zealand New Zealand sportspeople of Tongan descent Tasman rugby union players Highlanders (rugby union) players Rugby union flankers Rugby union locks Rugby union number eights 2019 Rugby World Cup players 2023 Rugby World Cup players