ABs hungry to impress: Coach

All Blacks assistant coach John Plumtree has promised changes before the Test against Fiji at Forsyth Barr Stadium on Saturday night.

But that promise is no guarantee Southland and Highlanders prop Ethan de Groot will get the nod.

The 22-year-old is in line for an All Black debut, and supposedly the impressive front rower has launched a public relations campaign of sorts.

“He said to me yesterday the whole of Gore is coming up so it would be appreciated if he could be selected,” Plumtree said.

“I said, ‘you’ll have to wait until Thursday’. But he is just jumping out of his skin to play and it is great having that type of enthusiasm in the team.”

Fellow Highlander Shannon Frizell’s chances of playing have improved. He has recovered from an ankle injury and a spot in the back row of the scrum may be on offer.

The All Blacks have a few injury concerns in the loose.

In-form No7 Dalton Papalii picked up a calf injury during the 102-0 win against Tonga at Mt Smart Stadium on Saturday, while Ardie Savea is nursing a knee injury.

“We’ll make a few changes— yeah definitely,” Plumtree responded when asked if people could expect wholesale changes from the side that dispatched Tonga 102-0 at Mt Smart Stadium on Saturday night.

“We’ve got a squad that’s pretty hungry to impress and we’ve got one more game after this before we get into the (Bledisloe Cup).

“These players all want to have a crack and we want to give them the opportunity.

“Dalton has a bit of a calf (injury) at the moment from the weekend, so we’ll just monitor him through the week.

“He is struggling at this stage.” Plumtree was not entirely sure what to expect from Fiji but extravagant ball movement probably springs to mind.

“We have not seen Fiji play for a while. We’ve only got one game that we’ve really had a good look at and that was in wet conditions against Georgia.

“But they’ve got big forwards, some really fast backs and they’ve got some good experienced leaders.

“It should be an entertaining game.”