Flanker Harri Deaves will make his debut for Wales against the All Blacks as Steve Tandy’s side take on New Zealand in Cardiff.
Deaves, called up to the squad after injury to captain Jac Morgan, comes in on the openside as Alex Mann reverts to the No 6 shirt as Tandy freshens up his team after a narrow win over Japan.
Joe Hawkins is brought in to the centres and is set to feature for the first time since the 2023 Six Nations, while Tom Rogers returns on the wing with Josh Adams suspended following his red card last week.
Replacement hooker Brodie Coghlan is also set to earn his first cap off the bench as Wales seek a first win over the All Blacks since 1953.
“Harri Deaves making his debut I think is an amazing story,” Tandy said. “I think his performances for the Ospreys, both sides of the ball, have been outstanding. I love how he plays the game.
“He's a smaller rugby player and the way he plays he adds physicality. His speed and aggression are there for everyone to see. It's an amazing opportunity for Harri and we can't wait to see him go on Saturday.
“We obviously want to improve the performance from Japan. I thought we had some outstanding moments against Argentina [in week one]. We felt we would have liked to have improved more last weekend. It was obviously good to get the win, but we want to improve our own performance against a world-class opposition on Saturday.”
New Zealand, meanwhile, have rung the changes after defeat to England last weekend, with Beauden Barrett and Ardie Savea among those to drop out.
The eldest Barrett brother appeared to be struggling with a quad injury at Twickenham and is replaced by Damian McKenzie at fly half as experienced centre pairing Anton Lienert-Brown and Rieko Ioane are reunited.
Fabian Holland is back available after illness to partner captain Scott Barrett in the second row, with Simon Parker the only starter other than the skipper to retain his place in the pack.
Wales XV to face New Zealand in Cardiff (Saturday 22 November, 3.10pm GMT): 1 Rhys Carre, 2 Dewi Lake (capt.), 3 Keiron Assiratti; 4 Dafydd Jenkins, 5 Adam Beard; 6 Alex Mann 7 Harri Deaves, 8 Aaron Wainwright; 9 Tomos Williams, 10 Dan Edwards; 11 Tom Rogers, 12 Joe Hawkins, 13 Max Llewellyn, 14 Louis Rees-Zammit; 15 Blair Murray.
Replacements: 16 Brodie Coghlan, 18 Gareth Thomas, 18 Archie Griffin, 19 Freddie Thomas, 20 Taine Plumtree; 21 Kieran Hardy, 22 Jarrod Evans, 23 Nick Tompkins.
New Zealand XV: 1 Tamaiti Williams, 2 Samisoni Taukei’aho, 3 Pasilio Tosi; 4 Scott Barrett (capt.), 5 Fabian Holland; 6 Simon Parker, 7 Du’Plessis Kirifi, 8 Wallace Sititi; 9 Cortez Ratima, 10 Damian McKenzie; 11 Caleb Clarke, 12 Anton Lienert-Brown, 13 Rieko Ioane, 14 Will Jordan; 15 Ruben Love.
Replacements: 16 George Bell, 17 Fletcher Newell, 18 George Bower, 19 Josh Lord, 20 Christian Lio-Willie; 21 Finlay Christie, 22 Leicester Fainga’anuku, 23 Sevu Reece.
