{"id":591983,"date":"2026-04-07T20:51:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T20:51:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/591983\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T20:51:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T20:51:09","slug":"shannon-frizell-to-return-to-rugby-in-new-zealand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/591983\/","title":{"rendered":"Shannon Frizell to return to rugby in New Zealand"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/382be2_b0c876df7f5046b59704307112bbd979~mv2.jpg\" alt=\"Shannon Frizell is returning to New Zealand rugby PHOTO: LINTOTT PHOTOGRAPHY\" style=\"width:100%;height:100%;object-fit:cover;object-position:50% 50%;max-width:100%;position:absolute;left:0;top:0\" data-pin-url=\"https:\/\/www.nzsportswire.com\/post\/shannon-frizell-to-return-to-rugby-in-new-zealand\" data-pin-media=\"https:\/\/static.wixstatic.com\/media\/382be2_b0c876df7f5046b59704307112bbd979~mv2.jpg\/v1\/fill\/w_1201,h_674,al_c,q_85\/382be2_b0c876df7f5046b59704307112bbd979~mv2.jpg\" draggable=\"false\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Shannon Frizell is returning to New Zealand rugby PHOTO: LINTOTT PHOTOGRAPHY<\/p>\n<p class=\"dzhEF ntB6g fpTX4 bMKtZ\" dir=\"auto\" id=\"viewer-aiy0x3369\">Former All Blacks loose forward Shannon Frizell will return to the Highlanders for the 2027 Super Rugby season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dzhEF ntB6g fpTX4 bMKtZ\" dir=\"auto\" id=\"viewer-vgu5x680\">The Highlanders have also confirmed he will link back up with the Tasman Mako later this year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dzhEF ntB6g fpTX4 bMKtZ\" dir=\"auto\" id=\"viewer-ud8w3564\">Frizell left New Zealand Rugby at the end of the 2023 World Cup where he started on the side of the scrum in the final but was given a yellow card in the second minute of the 12-11 loss in Paris.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dzhEF ntB6g fpTX4 bMKtZ\" dir=\"auto\" id=\"viewer-c9h79570\">He has since played 37 matches for Toshiba Brave Lupus in Japan where his club won back-to-back championships in 2024 and 2025, but will arrive back in Aotearoa before the start of the NPC.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dzhEF ntB6g fpTX4 bMKtZ\" dir=\"auto\" id=\"viewer-wtl36573\">The 33-test Tongan-born loose forward made his Highlanders debut in 2018 and earned All Blacks selection later that same year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dzhEF ntB6g fpTX4 bMKtZ\" dir=\"auto\" id=\"viewer-yshhy576\">Highlanders coach Jamie Joseph welcomed Frizell&#8217;s return.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dzhEF ntB6g fpTX4 bMKtZ\" dir=\"auto\" id=\"viewer-haxu8579\">&#8220;It&#8217;s great to see a seasoned international player prepared to return to Super Rugby to have a crack at making the All Blacks. He knows our culture well, he&#8217;s a hard-working player, and he&#8217;ll fit seamlessly into our team. <\/p>\n<p class=\"dzhEF ntB6g fpTX4 bMKtZ\" dir=\"auto\" id=\"viewer-no0hr2996\">The arrival of Shannon will give further impetus to that, and it&#8217;s exciting news for our fans to welcome back a player of his calibre.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shannon Frizell is returning to New Zealand rugby PHOTO: LINTOTT PHOTOGRAPHY Former All Blacks loose forward Shannon Frizell&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":591984,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-591983","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-rugby","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591983","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=591983"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591983\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/591984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=591983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=591983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=591983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}