Shannon Frizell: the Tongan goalkeeper who became an All Blacks World Cup flanker

Shannon Frizell did not pick up a rugby ball seriously until he was 17. Before that he was a goalkeeper in Tonga, good enough to play for his country's under-17 football team. Within seven years of switching codes he was an All Black, and by 2023 he was starting a World Cup final. Shannon Frizell, 32, has 35 Tests, two World Cup medals and two Japanese championships, and in October 2026 he came back from three years away to play in the Bledisloe Cup, only for a knee injury to end his year. This is the story of a long road from Folaha to the black jersey.

Where he comes from

Frizell was born on 11 February 1994 in Folaha, on Tonga's main island of Tongatapu, and grew up there. "My grandparents have been the biggest influence on my life as they raised me," he told the Tasman Mako website in 2016.

His older brother is Tyson Frizell, the rugby league forward who has played for St George Illawarra and for Australia, Tonga and Wales. In 2018 Tyson told NRL.com that Shannon had been adopted into the family as a child, as is common in Tongan culture, but that immigration rules stopped him joining them in Australia. So the family went to Tonga twice a year instead, and the brothers played village tournaments together in their mid-teens. "I was a big, tubby thing and he was a tall, skinny thing," Tyson recalled.

As a boy, Shannon's sport was football. He kept goal for Folaha's club, and in 2011 he played for Tonga at the Oceania under-17 championship, held in New Zealand.

'Apifo'ou College and Tonga

He switched to rugby at 'Apifo'ou College, the Catholic school in Nuku'alofa. "I started playing as a lock and number 8 at 17 years of age," he said. His principal, Father Filipe Seluini Akau'ola, remembered him differently: as a small first five-eighth with an attitude that stood out. In 2014 Frizell played for Tonga at the Junior World Rugby Trophy.

That year he also toured New Zealand with a Marist Pacific Invitational team that Akau'ola took to Nelson to play the Tasman under-19s. Before kick-off the principal took him aside. "Tonight you fight for your life," Akau'ola told him, as he recalled to Radio Sport in 2018. A year later, in 2015, Tasman offered Frizell a development contract.

Nelson and Tasman

He moved to Nelson to play for the Marist club, represented New Zealand Marist Colts, played sevens for Tasman and had a pre-season run with the Mako. In 2016 he made his provincial debut as Tasman Mako No 144 and played in every match of the season. His Tongan team-mates in the squad, he said, were helping him with his English.

The Museum profile on allblacks.com calls 2017 "a blockbuster" Mako season. Tasman reached the Premiership final, and Frizell started at lock in the 35-13 loss to Canterbury on 28 October 2017. By then the Highlanders had signed him.

The Highlanders

Frizell became Highlander No 266 in 2018 and scored a try on his first start. The next week, on 20 April 2018 at Eden Park, he scored a hat-trick against the Blues and set up another try. "Shannon Frizell is being touted as a future All Black," NRL.com wrote a fortnight later.

He scored six Super Rugby tries in 2019, according to Wikipedia, and played his 50th game for the club in the first round of 2022, against the Chiefs. By the time he left for Japan he had played 68 times for the Highlanders.

The All Blacks: 2018 and 2019

Steve Hansen picked him for the June 2018 series against France, and when Vaea Fifita was injured Frizell started the third Test, in Dunedin on 23 June 2018. He needed treatment on a cut eye, had a try ruled out by the TMO, and the All Blacks won 49-14. He was All Black No 1172.

His first Test try came on 8 September 2018 against Argentina at Trafalgar Park in Nelson, in front of 21,401 people who knew him as a Mako. The NZ Rugby match report said he was "breaking the line nearly every time he got the ball", and he finished a 16-phase move for his try in a 46-24 win. He started three Rugby Championship Tests that year but missed the end-of-year tour.

He was in and out in 2019. After the 16-16 draw with South Africa in Wellington in July he was left out and sent back to Tasman. Then Luke Jacobson's concussion ruled Jacobson out of the World Cup, and Frizell flew to Japan to replace him. He came off the bench against South Africa in Yokohama, started against Canada, scoring a try in Oita, and against Namibia, and started the bronze final, a 40-17 win over Wales in Tokyo.

2020 and 2021

In 2020 he started at blindside for the South Island in the North v South match and then in the first three Bledisloe Tests. In 2021 he played the July Tests against Fiji, scoring off the bench in Hamilton.

At the end of 2021 he toured Europe, playing against Italy in Rome on 6 November 2021 and France in Paris on 20 November 2021.

First choice: 2022 and 2023

Frizell missed the 2022 home series against Ireland through injury, but from August he was back at blindside. He played eight Tests that year, including the 35-23 win at Ellis Park, where the match report noted him among the forwards gaining ground, and the tour of Japan, Wales, Scotland and England.

In 2023 he scored in the 35-20 win over South Africa at Mt Smart Stadium in July, a game in which Wikipedia records him as player of the match, and again at the Melbourne Cricket Ground a fortnight later. At the World Cup in France he started all five of his Tests at No 6: Italy and Uruguay in Lyon, the 28-24 quarter-final win over Ireland, and the semi-final against Argentina at Stade de France, where he scored twice in a 44-6 win in front of 77,863. That gave him four Test tries for the year.

He started the final against South Africa and was replaced in the 55th minute, and the All Blacks lost 12-11.

Japan

After the World Cup Frizell joined Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo, coached by former All Blacks captain Todd Blackadder, alongside Richie Mo'unga. Toshiba won Japan Rugby League One in 2024 and again in 2025, the first club to win back-to-back titles. In the 2025 final he started at blindside in an 18-13 win over Kubota Spears at the National Stadium in Tokyo, in front of 51,009. That winter he also played for the ANZAC XV against the touring British and Irish Lions.

His last season in Japan was hampered by injury. RugbyJP reported that by April 2026 he had managed only two games because of hand injuries.

Coming home

In 2026 the Highlanders announced that Frizell would return for the 2027 season under coach Jamie Joseph, and his New Zealand Rugby contract brought him home in time for the NPC. "He knows our culture well, he's a hard-working player," Joseph said.

He played four games for Tasman late in the regular season, including 80 minutes at No 8 in a 50-33 win over Waikato, and Dave Rennie named him for the Bledisloe Cup. "He's fully selectable, he's come in fresh, and we know what he's capable of," forwards coach Jason Ryan said. Frizell was more cautious: "I feel like I'm not there yet, but I'm capable of doing the job." He also said he felt his best rugby was still in front of him.

On 10 October 2026 he came off the bench in the 59th minute at Eden Park, three years after his last Test, and the All Blacks won 50-19. A week later in Sydney he came on in the 55th minute and lasted a few minutes before rupturing the posterior ligament in his left knee. The All Blacks won 43-21, and on 24 October 2026 New Zealand Rugby ruled him out of the northern tour, with about six weeks of recovery expected.

Style and standing

Frizell is 1.95 metres tall and has played lock, blindside and No 8. The Museum profile describes him as "blessed with dynamic rugby skills". His Test record is 35 matches, 26 of them starts in the No 6 jersey, with 27 wins, five losses, three draws and eight tries. NZ Rugby lists his nickname as Noni.

Where he is now

Frizell is recovering from the knee injury while the All Blacks tour Scotland, Wales and England. He is due back with the Highlanders for the 2027 Super Rugby season, in the year of the World Cup in Australia.

Career at a glance

Test figures are from RUGBE's match-by-match All Blacks data to 17 October 2026.