Venue: Northland Events Centre, Fangarei Date: Saturday, October 29 Reset: 07:30 BST |
Coverage: More BBC Radio Wales live commentary on the BBC Sport website and app and live text commentary on the BBC Sport website and app |
Wales have made four changes for their Rugby World Cup quarter-final against defending champions New Zealand.
Scrum forward Kyra Bevan and wing Lowry Norkett start for the tournament for the first time, while Jasmine Joyce moves to full-back.
Propagandist Donna Rose returns after a week’s layoff, while Carys Phillips favors prostitutes instead.
New Zealand have named a strong side with Stacey Fluler, Ruby Tui and Portia Woodman returning to the XV.
The two sides met in the second round of the Pool Stage when the Black Ferns broke through in 10 tries and won 56-12.
They went together once more after New Zealand finished as seeds with three extra points from three, while Wales finished eighth with just one win over Scotland.
Bevan was the hero for Wales in that game after converting an 84th minute penalty and she earns the number nine shirt from Fionn Lewis.
Hannah Jones captains Wales for the third time at the tournament, with team captain Sivan Lillycrop on the bench alongside props Gwenliane Pearce and Leuca George, who are both expected to make their competitive debuts.
As well as bringing in their world-class defenders, the Black Ferns also return to the midfield partnership of Kendra Coxage and Ruahey Demont, with Chelsea Bremner back in the back row.
Co-captain Kennedy Simon is back from injury and will make her World Cup debut off the bench.
Wales head coach Ioan Cunningham said: “On Saturday, we have a difficult task against Black Fern on our home field. They are in good form, scoring a lot and playing well.
“However, we have nothing to lose, we intend to go out and leave everything on the field.
“In our pool game against them, we had some dominance in regulation, but we also created quite a few chances, many of which we didn’t convert.”
New Zealand assistant coach Wesley Clarke said: “We’re going to get some smalls and some good scrimmages where they really challenged us last time so that’s good.
“There were a lot of things that weren’t up to our standards in our last game, so that’s what we focused on this week.”
New Zealand: Ruby thuja; Portia Woodman, Stacey Fluler, Teresa Fitzpatrick, Aisha Letty-I’Igo; Ruahei Demont (captain), Kendra Coxedge; Philippa Love, Georgia Ponsonby, Amy Rule, Mayakawanakaulani Roos, Chelsea Bremner, Alana Bremner, Sarah Hirini, Liana Mikaele-Tu’u
Replacements: Luca Connor, Crystal Murray, Santa Taumata, Joanna Ngan-Vu, Kennedy Simon, Ariana Bailer, Hazel Tubic, Renee Holmes
Wales: Jasmine Joyce; Lowry Norkett, Carys Williams-Morris, Hannah Jones (capt), Lisa Neumann; Elinor Snowsil, Kyra Bevan; Cara Hope, Carys Phillips, Donna Rose, Natalia John, Gwen Crabb, Bethan Lewis, Alex Callender, Saioned Harris
Replacements: Kelsey Jones, Gwenlian Pearce, Cecilia Tuipulotu, Georgia Evans, Sivan Lillycrop, Fionn Lewis, Leuku George, Meg Webb.
Judge: Aimee Barrett-Theron (SARU)
Assistant referees: Aurélie Groizeleau (FFR) and Julianne Zussman (RC)
TMO: Chris Asmus (RC)
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