Te Maire Martin returning to the halves and hooker Danny Levi getting his first start are the two significant changes to the Kiwis side to take on Fiji in their World Cup quarter final in Wellington on Saturday.
Danny Levi. New Zealand Kiwis v Samoa, Rugby League World Cup 2017. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
The Kiwis are coming off a loss to Tonga in their last game and coach David Kidwell says his aim this week has been for the side to return to a traditional Kiwi style of footy.
Martin returns to the starting lineup with Kodi Nikorima dropping to the bench.
Wellington's Levi earns a promotion from the bench where he's started all three Tests since making his debut against Samoa in round one of the 2017 Rugby League World Cup.
Adam Blair will again skipper the side in jersey 13, while 3 other Wellington men, Jordan Rapana (Wing) Joseph Tapine (Lock) and Nelson Asofa-Solomona (Interchange) will also get their chance to play in front of their home fans.
Kidwell says this is the best team to take them forward.
"What we've seen of danny Levi over the last three games he deserves his starting spot this week."
"With Te Maire, we want to play that smart tough footy, I thought we were missing that against Tonga, particularly around the push around the footy and we thought he did that very well against Scotland and we're looking for him to utilise his speed and obviously his direction of the team.
Kiwis team to play Fiji.....
KIWI NO. JERSEY NO. NAME TEST APPEARANCES
779 1 ROGER TUIVASA-SHECK 15
794 2 DALLIN WATENE-ZELEZNIAK 5
776 3 DEAN WHARE 18
803 4 BRAD TAKAIRANGI 3
798 5 JORDAN RAPANA 7
802 6 TE MAIRE MARTIN 2
774 7 SHAUN JOHNSON 24
785 8 MARTIN TAUPAU 19
806 9 DANNY LEVI 3
755 10 JARED WAEREA-HARGREAVES 22
731 11 SIMON MANNERING 44
800 12 JOSEPH TAPINE 5
732 13 ADAM BLAIR 44
804 14 NELSON ASOFA-SOLOMONA 3
768 15 RUSSELL PACKER 6
805 16 ISAAC LIU 2
793 17 KODI NIKORIMA 7
796 18 KENNY BROMWICH 3
747 19 JASON NIGHTINGALE 33
781 20 PETA HIKU 10
807 21 ADDIN FONUA-BLAKE 1
