The Test series might be done and dusted, but Wales will want to sign off from New Zealand on a high as Warren Gatland's men face off against the All Blacks in the third and final match on Saturday. New Zealand, despite a valiant effort from Wales, won the first two Tests to take an unassailable 2-0 lead.
All Blacks coach Steve Hansen, with the series already won, has rung in the changes to his team, with 12 new players coming into the 23-man squad. There will be five changes to the XV that will take the field against Wales, and Hansen hopes that decision pays off in the long-term as some of the fringe players get an opportunity against this strong-but-cannot-take-that-final-step Wales side.
"[It's] risk and reward," Hansen was quoted as saying by BBC Sport when asked about the multiple changes. "But are the rewards worthy of making the changes? Of course, they are because we trust the players that are coming in. They've trained well."
The key to winning this series for New Zealand has been their ability to keep powering on right till the last minute. While Wales have held firm for three quarters of the game, when it has come down to the final 15-20 minutes, the All Blacks have proved to be far too strong. That is something that Warren Gatland wants to change, if he is to see his Wales side pick up a consolation win from this tour.
"It's all about staying in the match," Gatland told The Guardian. "In both games to date we have seemed to switch off for five or 10 minutes and that has been hugely costly for us. "Those 10 minutes last weekend in Wellington when they scored three tries were very costly.
"The players have been hard on themselves and been pretty honest in identifying where we let ourselves down with mistakes. We have to make sure we are accurate all game. The attitude in training has been excellent and we've freshened them up for one final assault on the All Blacks after a long season.
"From where we were when we last played New Zealand in 2014, we made the All Blacks make double the number of tackles against us last weekend and our territory and possession were up. What we have to do now is turn those numbers into pressure and points.
"We feel we are stressing them at times, but we have got to make sure we are more accurate and cut out the errors."
Cutting out the errors, as Wales have shown in the first two matches, might be doable for 60-65 minutes, but keeping those concentration levels up against the best team in the world, even this much-changed unit, is a whole different thing altogether.
Teams: New Zealand: Israel Dagg, Ben Smith, George Moala, Ryan Crotty, Julian Savea, Beauden Barrett, Aaron Smith, Kieran Read (C), Sam Cane, Elliot Dixon, Sam Whitelock, Brodie Retallick, Charlie Faumuina, Dane Coles, Joe Moody.
Replacements: Codie Taylor, Wyatt Crockett, Ofa Tu'ungafasi, Luke Romano, Liam Squire, Tawera Kerr-Barlow, Lima Sopoaga, Waisake Naholo.
Wales: Rhys Patchell, Liam Williams, Jonathan Davies, Jamie Roberts, Hallam Amos, Dan Biggar, Rhys Webb; Taulupe Faletau, Sam Warburton (C), Ross Moriarty, Alun Wyn Jones, Luke Charteris, Tomas Francis, Ken Owens, Rob Evans.
Replacements: Scott Baldwin, Aaron Jarvis, Samson Lee, Jake Ball, Ellis Jenkins, Gareth Davies, Rhys Priestland, Scott Williams.
Where to Watch Live
New Zealand vs Wales is scheduled for a 7.35 p.m. local time (1.05 p.m. IST, 8.35 a.m. BST) start.
India: TV: No coverage.
New Zealand: TV: Sky Sport 1. Live Streaming: Sky Go NZ.
UK: TV: Sky Sports 1. Live Streaming: Sky Go and Watch Sky Sports.
Asia: TV: Setanta.
South Africa: TV: SuperSport 1 and SuperSport Live Video.
