New Zealand remain unchanged for second Test against France
Beauden Barrett was impressive in the first game
©PA
New Zealand coach Steve Hansen has named an unchanged line-up for the second Test against France to be played in Wellington on Saturday.
A win this weekend will help New Zealand claim the three-game series as they already completed a 52-11 victory in the opening game at Eden Park.
Hansen insisted that the team needs to be given time to settle their combinations and hence he was against making any change for the second game.
“As we have a big focus right now on developing our game and working on our skillsets, connections and combinations, it isn’t beneficial to be making wholesale changes, if any at all, to the playing 23.
“Whilst we were really happy with the way we finished last weekend’s Test, we’re fully aware that we still have a lot of work to do over the rest of the Steinlager Series.
“The French would’ve taken a lot of confidence out of their first 50 minutes on the weekend and will be coming to play on Saturday night. Therefore, it will require us to raise our game to an even higher level.
“Rather than being inhibited by this, we’ll be embracing and walking towards the challenge. We’ll be looking to play our own high-energy game with real intent.
“When it comes to our performance, we know there are high expectations from our fans. This, in turn, demands that we drive our own expectations even higher.”
