New Zealand Under 20 have rung the changes for this afternoon's second Oceania series international against Samoa on the Gold Coast.
Twelve of them, to be precise, with just wing Jona Nareki, loose forward and skipper Luke Jacobson and tighthead prop Ryan Coxon retaining their places as head coach Craig Philpott looks to give most players in the squad a run ahead of the final match on Saturday against Australia.
New Zealand ran in eight tries in Friday's 63-3 victory over Fiji, with fullback Will Jordan nabbing a hat-trick.
"I was particularly pleased with the defensive effort against Fiji, especially the fact that no tries were conceded. We exerted real pressure at the breakdown, resulting in several turnovers that we were able to capitalise on, with Tom Christie being a standout in that area. It was also a good test of our attacking shape and we were able to create regular scoring opportunities both out wide and in close," says Philpott.
"We're looking forward to playing Samoa. There are a lot of New Zealand-based players in their team, so we anticipate they will be motivated to perform well against us. They have dangerous attackers in their backline and are physical defenders, so will certainly test our ability to keep our attacking shape.
