Massive loss for the Boks with Kwagga Smith ruled out for 6 months with a serious knee injury.
1 month later
From 3m 55s in here Rennie says that the tour squad will be named "about a week" after the Irish test. Says that S. Barrett is not available but Holland "is a chance" and will get a run with Otago before they leave. The extra 10 players will be either a 6-4 or 7-3 split.
@Rugbyman said in All Blacks Tour of South Africa 2026:
10 extra players to come in: Norris, G Bell, Mafileo, Holland, Frizzell, Kirifi, Hotham, Mounga, Ioane, Hutchinson.
Is what I am hoping for.
Would probably want another loose forward for Kirifi (maybe a Barnes?) but would be pretty happy with that group. Don't think Frizell or Mo'unga will be allowed, however.
They should take Oudenryn ahead of Bell. He looks special.. have a look at him now. The midweek games are perfect for this
Bell can hardly complain about a guy with minimal first class experience getting called up to the ABs
@Rugbyman said in All Blacks Tour of South Africa 2026:
10 extra players to come in: Norris, G Bell, Mafileo, Holland, Frizzell, Kirifi, Hotham, Mounga, Ioane, Hutchinson.
Is what I am hoping for.
I had the same but had Lauaki over Mafileo and Harkin over Hutchinson as he can also cover 10
@rugbyman said in All Blacks Tour of South Africa 2026:
@Duluth I wouldn't be unhappy if they picked him as I think he is a future AB rake. I would wonder if this is 1 season too early but then again Rassie is throwing youngsters into the ring with gay abandon.
Possibly. My thinking is that if goes well on tour, and the coaches become familiar with him, he becomes a real option for the RWC squad.
@Rugbyman said in All Blacks Tour of South Africa 2026:
@jimmyb I suppose we lack big loosies since Flanders and Finau have gone. I don't think Frizell's form has been very good in Japan but he has experience and he has done it before. He is 1 of the few 6 foot 5, 115kgs loosies we have to combat the Bok monsters.
I believe Dave can take Finau to SA if he wants.
@jimmyb said in All Blacks Tour of South Africa 2026:
@Rugbyman why the hell would be want Frizell? The guy never strung together 4-5 games in a row and usually goes missing when you need him most
We need some cannon fodder for the midweek games.
@Canes4life said in All Blacks Tour of South Africa 2026:
@Rugbyman said in All Blacks Tour of South Africa 2026:
10 extra players to come in: Norris, G Bell, Mafileo, Holland, Frizzell, Kirifi, Hotham, Mounga, Ioane, Hutchinson.
Is what I am hoping for.I had the same but had Lauaki over Mafileo and Harkin over Hutchinson as he can also cover 10
You ok hun? Haig over Frizzel, Delaney over Holland, Godfrey over Mounga.
@Bones said in All Blacks Tour of South Africa 2026:
@Canes4life said in All Blacks Tour of South Africa 2026:
@Rugbyman said in All Blacks Tour of South Africa 2026:
10 extra players to come in: Norris, G Bell, Mafileo, Holland, Frizzell, Kirifi, Hotham, Mounga, Ioane, Hutchinson.
Is what I am hoping for.I had the same but had Lauaki over Mafileo and Harkin over Hutchinson as he can also cover 10
You ok hun? Haig over Frizzel, Delaney over Holland, Godfrey over Mounga.
Close… Shields over Haig
@Canes4life What’s the word on Hutchinson’s knee injury.? Is he back in training for NPC? Exciting young prospect
@SecFid said in All Blacks Tour of South Africa 2026:
@Canes4life What’s the word on Hutchinson’s knee injury.? Is he back in training for NPC? Exciting young prospect
Not too sure sorry but he looks like a very good prospect for the ABs moving forward. I think the injury was 4-6 weeks so he could be ready to play again. If he's named for South Africa I certainly wouldn't be displeased about it.
@SecFid said in All Blacks Tour of South Africa 2026:
I can’t read anywhere whether he re-injured the same knee (right) that was badly damaged in 2025. If he did it could be 6 weeks minimum
He was at Canterbury training yesterday,No contact training.
Re injured his shoulder again, he has had a couple of shoulder injuries as well as the knee,
@Rugbyman said in All Blacks Tour of South Africa 2026:
@jimmyb I suppose we lack big loosies since Flanders and Finau have gone. I don't think Frizell's form has been very good in Japan but he has experience and he has done it before. He is 1 of the few 6 foot 5, 115kgs loosies we have to combat the Bok monsters.
Frizell is close to 190cm than 196cm.
Rassie will release some Springboks from the squad to play for the franchises if they need match fitness. SFM is an example.
@brodean said in All Blacks Tour of South Africa 2026:
@Rugbyman said in All Blacks Tour of South Africa 2026:
@jimmyb I suppose we lack big loosies since Flanders and Finau have gone. I don't think Frizell's form has been very good in Japan but he has experience and he has done it before. He is 1 of the few 6 foot 5, 115kgs loosies we have to combat the Bok monsters.
Frizell is close to 190cm than 196cm
Frizell is around 195cm no where near 190cm he is quite a big unit.
@Duluth said in All Blacks Tour of South Africa 2026:
@rugbyman He's better than Bell
I don't know if that's true or not because I've only seen Oudenryn play less than 90 minutes of Super Rugby. No doubt he's a rare raw talent but Bell had a better SRP season than Taylor.
Statistically Bell's season was basically as good as Aumua and Taukei'aho across the board on a per 80 minutes basis.
@Chris said in All Blacks Tour of South Africa 2026:
@brodean said in All Blacks Tour of South Africa 2026:
@Rugbyman said in All Blacks Tour of South Africa 2026:
@jimmyb I suppose we lack big loosies since Flanders and Finau have gone. I don't think Frizell's form has been very good in Japan but he has experience and he has done it before. He is 1 of the few 6 foot 5, 115kgs loosies we have to combat the Bok monsters.
Frizell is close to 190cm than 196cm
Frizell is around 195cm no where near 190cm he is quite a big unit.

Here he is recently next to old man Blackadder who has probably shrunk a bit compared to his playing days of 193cm. I'm giving Frizell 192cm. I've noticed in many photos a difference between him and players listed as 195 and 196.
@brodean said in All Blacks Tour of South Africa 2026:
@Chris said in All Blacks Tour of South Africa 2026:
@brodean said in All Blacks Tour of South Africa 2026:
@Rugbyman said in All Blacks Tour of South Africa 2026:
@jimmyb I suppose we lack big loosies since Flanders and Finau have gone. I don't think Frizell's form has been very good in Japan but he has experience and he has done it before. He is 1 of the few 6 foot 5, 115kgs loosies we have to combat the Bok monsters.
Frizell is close to 190cm than 196cm
Frizell is around 195cm no where near 190cm he is quite a big unit.
Here he is recently next to old man Blackadder who has probably shrunk a bit compared to his playing days of 193cm. I'm giving Frizell 192cm. I've noticed in many photos a difference between him and players listed as 195 and 196.
Here’s a stat, the internet has four different heights for Todd Blackadder.
@act-crusader said in All Blacks Tour of South Africa 2026:
@brodean said in All Blacks Tour of South Africa 2026:
@Chris said in All Blacks Tour of South Africa 2026:
@brodean said in All Blacks Tour of South Africa 2026:
@Rugbyman said in All Blacks Tour of South Africa 2026:
@jimmyb I suppose we lack big loosies since Flanders and Finau have gone. I don't think Frizell's form has been very good in Japan but he has experience and he has done it before. He is 1 of the few 6 foot 5, 115kgs loosies we have to combat the Bok monsters.
Frizell is close to 190cm than 196cm
Frizell is around 195cm no where near 190cm he is quite a big unit.
Here he is recently next to old man Blackadder who has probably shrunk a bit compared to his playing days of 193cm. I'm giving Frizell 192cm. I've noticed in many photos a difference between him and players listed as 195 and 196.
Here’s a stat, the internet has four different heights for Todd Blackadder.
Make that five: He's 182cm tall.
@brodean said in All Blacks Tour of South Africa 2026:
I don't know if that's true or not
Because you rely too much on stats. I've seen plenty of him play at various levels. I am comfortable making that judgement right now

