Foster hints at new midfield

Editor

New Zealand assistant coach Ian Foster has hinted his side's centres for their game against South Africa will be Malakai Fekitoa and Conrad Smith.

Last Friday saw Sonny Bill Williams and Ma'a Nonu link up in midfield and impress against Argentina, but their next fixture will see at least one change with the former remains on home soil and hasn't travelled to Johannesburg.

Foster though wasn't hiding the fact there could be a completely different combination as New Zealand look to build depth ahead of the World Cup.

"We've got plenty of options there, you've got some contrasting players," Foster told radionz.co.nz.

"Conrad is a very experienced campaigner and Malakai, we like the balance and contrast he gives us as a ball carrier that can pass. The South Africans had a new midfield last week so we're just assessing that to see what we should offer up."

The All Blacks' problem area last week was their line-out defence as Argentina scored two tries from the rolling maul, something that Brodie Retallick admits they need to improve if they are to win.

"We let in a couple of tries from the Argentinian's driving and it's probably somewhere they're going to try and attack us this week as well so we need to work on that during the week and make sure we get it right" he said.