It could be a monopoly. Potentially, five backs from the Waratahs are in line start for the Wallabies in the June Test series against England: Nick Phipps, Bernard Foley, Kurtley Beale, Rob Horne and Israel Folau.

Only either Samui Kerevi or Tevita Kuridrani at 13, and Joe Tomane (if fit) on the right wing stand between the Tahs and a selection flush from 9 to 15.

One of those beginning to show his cards is Reds halfback Nick Frisby, who has benefited indirectly from the inexperience of his partner in the halves, Jake McIntyre.

Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Reddit Email Share

There is always one dominant voice in the halves, and with McIntyre learning the ropes that voice has of necessity become Frisby’s.

He took another big step up against the Cheetahs over the weekend, while both Phipps and Nick Stirzaker at the Rebels are both still struggling to rediscover their best form.

Although Phipps is probably still the man in the box seat as an established international player, Frisby is now snapping at his heels.

After a rocky start in the weekend’s first quarter, in which he had one kick blocked down and made another mistake in his own 22 – a passing reminder of the Reds’ exit malaise earlier in the season – Frisby took the game by the scruff of the neck. By the end he was clearly the dominant back-line personality on either side.

Here are some of Frisby’s best moments from the highlight reel:



Attacking support lines

Support from halfback is life-blood to the exploitation of line-breaks. From the very start of this Super rugby season, Frisby’s reading of the game in attack and his lines of running have been truly world-class.

Against the Rebels in Round 3, Frisby announced his quality in this area. He was on hand to support Hendrik Tui’s break from first phase lineout:









What is immediately apparent is:

Firstly, Frisby’s closing speed. By 34:05 he has run past both 7 Waita Setu and 12 Anthony Fainga’a, who are closest to Tui as the line-break is made at 34:02. He instinctively accelerates into the key support zone 1-2 metres directly behind the ball-carrier at 34:05 and 34:06.

Secondly, Frisby’s running line. At 34:06 he straightens underneath Tui as the Reds’ #6 fades out, taking the last Melbourne defender with him. The switch line maintains his momentum and takes him all the way in between the posts for the score.

The same qualities were in evidence for his try against the Highlanders in Round 7:



As the kick is received by Samu Kerevi at 15:36, Frisby is only at midfield. At he bends his run towards Eto Nabuli’s break 15:41 he is still behind Liam Gill and about 12 metres adrift of the ball-carrier. At the critical moment, at 15:43, he is comfortably ahead of Gill and again in the support ‘pocket’ only one metre away from Nabuli.



A sequence from the Cheetahs game illustrates the excellence of Frisby’s anticipation of the break:







Seeing a group of the Reds’ best attackers together out on the left (Kerevi, Karmichael Hunt and Nabuli), Frisby angles his run through the Cheetahs’ defensive line, at 40:57, until he is five metres ahead of the ball-carrier and converging for the offload at 40:59.

He got his reward not on this play, but in the highlight reel at the start of the second half. In the first clip he is already through the Cheetahs’ line and 12 metres ahead of Kerevi when he receives the ball at 45:41. When Kerevi releases Nabuli down the left side-line, Frisby begins to converge on him at 45:44, but the real finesse in his support play becomes evident at 45:46.

Seeing that Kerevi is holding the ball in his right arm and looking out towards touch, Frisby makes a late adjustment and switches lanes outside to make the offload a comfortable one for the ball-carrier. As support play goes, it is a thing of beauty.

Engaging the first defender and ‘lifting’ from the ruck

When he goes to pass, Frisby characteristically employs a short ‘lift’ from the base rather than passing directly off the deck. This tends to be the way in the modern professional game, but it does also mean that the scrum-half has to interest the first three defenders sufficiently to avoid ‘leading’ them onto the first receiver for the attack too often.

Frisby certainly improved this part of his game against the Cheetahs, making two clean breaks around the side of the ruck at 47:49 and 62:41. On the second of these occasions, Frisby waits until he sees the Cheetahs’ guard and second defender ‘bite’ on Andrew Ready (outside) and Ben Matwijow (inside) before he turns his run upfield for the try.

Frisby’s passing does appear to need some extra work, especially off his right hand. He lacks the bullet-like zip of a top Kiwi 9 and appears too right-hand dominant in those right-to-left situations. I counted four examples where passes stopped the receiver and caused a problem further down the line:



Defensive captaincy from the boot-space and scrambling in cover

Frisby also showed good organisational and communication skills when standing behind the ruck in the ‘boot space’. These are essential for a halfback in the defensive system the Reds use, and had them in good stead during a long goal-line stand in the first quarter.

In the still image at 10:47:

Frisby has his arms out directing the people in front of him near the breakdown. The value of his organisational skills has a concrete effect. At 11:16 you can hear him shout “Leave it, leave it!” to Anthony Fainga’a after the tackle is made. This pushes Fainga’a into guard and that allows Matwijow to bite off a little more yardage and pick up the fumble at 11:21 from his post at second defender.

In the second example, Frisby’s left arm snakes out at 13:21 as he sees Rob Simmons wrap up the Cheetahs’ ball-carrier at the back of a driving maul. He directs Gill into the maul to ‘pop the cork’, complete the turnover and another goal-line save.

Frisby also made another invaluable contribution in defence in his role as sweeper in behind the front line. In the Reds’ system, there are generally only two people who can scramble in cover after a break is made wide by the opposition – either the fullback or one of the wings playing as fullback, or the 9 corner-flagging from his position in between the line and the last defender.

At 32:33 from the reel, with the Reds a man down to yellow card and the ball turned over in contact just outside their 22, Frisby plays his role to perfection, running down sevens flyer Sergeal Petersen in the corner to save the try. He couldn’t quite repeat the trick on Raymond Rhule in the 70th minute, but it is nonetheless clear that Frisby has the closing speed and sheer desire to do the job.



Foot adjustment and misdirection on attack

As the Super Rugby season has progressed, Frisby has become more proficient at keeping his cards closer to his chest and withholding easy ‘tells’ as to the direction of the attack on the next phase. These can often be read by the defence from the halfback’s foot placement at the base of the ruck.

In this example from the game against the Highlanders, he signals out to the left before coming back to the (right) short-side to create a try in the corner for Liam Gill:

In the Cheetahs game, at 29:56, he changes feet from open-side to short-side and the result is a nice offload from Curtis Browning and another short break by Rob Simmons:

The kicking game

The final piece of the jigsaw for a good 9 lies in the kicking game. I wrote a previous article about the Reds’ struggles with their exit strategy based around Frisby’s box-kicks. Playing for the Wallabies he won’t have to worry, as their exit pattern is based around Bernard Foley.

However, his kicking game will add value from upfield positions beyond the exit zone. This was an area that England had identified as a Wallaby weakness over the past few years. Australian teams always tended to run the ball back through midfield, so the defence could commit an extra defender to the front line knowing that the Wallabies could not hurt them with the kicking game.

With Frisby in the side this will not be so obviously the case:



He shows good touch-kicking diagonally past a one-man or shallow backfield; in the first example, he kicks through the top half of the ball in order to get a good ‘run’ when the ball hits grass beyond that last defender – the sign of a player who has worked hard on his technique.

Summary

I suspect Nick Frisby’s Wallaby stock is rising by the week, and faster than that of any other 9 in the country.

Although Nick Phipps will be a known and trusted quantity to Michael Cheika, Frisby could well be the preferred long-term bet if he continues to develop at his current rate.

If Cheika is satisfied that he has the mentality and toughness to survive in the international arena, he may even start the first Test at Lang Park in Brisbane on June 11 and break that Tahs selection monopoly!