Canada ring the changes for big clash with Wales.

Byline: Simon Thomas 

CANADA'S Kiwi coach Kieran Crowley has rung the changes ahead of tomorrow's showdown with Wales.

The former All Black has brought in five new faces, including a debutant prop, and also made two positional switches from last Saturday's 25-6 defeat to Ireland in Vancouver.

There will be a first cap for tighthead Andrew Tiedemann, while Luke Tait - once of the Ospreys and the Blues - will be out to make the most of his call-up at lock, with Jebb Sinclair coming in on the blindside flank.

Behind the scrum, Ander Monro and Sean Duke get the nod at fly-half and left wing respectively, with Ciaran Hearn and DTH van der Merwe swopping positions, enabling the latter to move infield into the centre after impressing on the wing against the Irish.

Explaining the switch of van der Merwe, Crowley said: "With his form last week and a couple of little things we want to try, I just feel moving him might produce a bit more creativity around midfield.

"He's an accomplished player who is going to be playing in Scotland next year in the Magners League for Glasgow."

Meanwhile, skipper Pat Riordan is backing new cap Tiedemann to rise to the challenge presented by this weekend's Test where he will pack down against the vastly-experienced Duncan Jones.

"He's a good young player," said the former Pontypridd hooker.

"I've played with him at the University of Victoria and I've got a lot of respect for what he can do and I'm really excited to see him out there."

Reflecting on last week's performance against Ireland, coach Crowley commented: "We had some good patches, but we chucked a few balls away.

"It was a 13-6 game and we gave away a sin-bin and gave away 12 points. You can't do that at this level.

"But there is improvement going on and we need to keep building."

CANADA: J Pritchard; C Hearn, DTH van der Merwe, R Smith, S Duke; A Monro, E Fairhurst; K Tkachuk, P Riordan (capt), A Tiedemann, M Burak, L Tait, J Sinclair, A Carpenter, A Kleeberger. Replacements: M Pletch, D Wooldridge, T Hotson, N Dala, M Evans, D Spicer, P Mack.