All Blacks assistant coach John Plumtree has hinted changes are likely to the New Zealand squad for the second Tri Nations Test against Australia in Brisbane this Saturday.
The All Blacks opened the Australia-based tournament with an emphatic 43-5 win over the Wallabies in Sydney but a focus on keeping players fresh and acknowledging the competition for places in the side could see that victorious squad chopped and changed.
As such, Plumtree said the changes would provide a "different type of energy within the group in this build-up".
"We've got some players knocking on the door, and there's been some awesome competition for spots, and we can expect some changes to freshen players up," he said.
Plumtree added the All Blacks were expecting the Wallabies to react to last weekend's loss in the Suncorp Stadium Test.
"They will feel under a little bit of pressure, and that can bring the best out of them," Plumtree said.
"There's an exciting young group in the Australian team, and they will keep getting better and better with the more experience that they have.
"It's another opportunity for them this week to improve.
"They will be looking for a good team performance without worrying about any individuals," he said.
Despite the Halloween thumping, Plumtree said the All Blacks feel there is still plenty to work on as they look to put out an 80-minute performance after fading in the third quarter of the Sydney Test before scoring two late tries to boost the final margin.
"There were patches in that game that were pretty average, and the scoreboard was pretty impressive, but, at times, we weren't impressive,” Plumtree said.
"We made a lot of mistakes and unforced errors for a period of the game.
"Our game management and some of our individual brilliant play set us up at times, and the forwards laid a platform for us, but this team keeps looking for improvement," he said.
The All Blacks play Australia this Saturday at 9:45pm in Brisbane with the team for that match named tomorrow.
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