Waisake Naholo may start for New Zealand against Wales on Saturday

New Zealand coach Steve Hansen has indicated Waisake Naholo may replace winger Julian Savea for the second test against Wales in Wellington next weekend.

Savea, was substituted very early in the second half of the 39-21 victory at Eden Park on Saturday after being easily beaten twice by opposite George North in the first spell.

Naholo delivered a mixed performance in the first half, dropping the ball several times while also getting exposed in defence.

The 25-year-old also collided with Ben Smith in attempting to catch a high kick, which led to the first Wales try which was scored by Toby Faletau.

Hansen explained he decided to replace Savea to introduce Beauden Barrett to full-back, move Smith to right wing and shift Naholo to the left in order to provide more impact.

"We thought Waisake was doing more damage than Julian," Hansen said.

The All Blacks coach believes Naholo is comfortable playing both sides of the field rather than being restricted to the right wing.

"He's a very capable young man. He's highly intelligent and very talented as an athlete. He just needs some more time in the saddle.

"I think he's going to be pretty special."

Savea, who has one of the highest strike rates in Test rugby with 39 tries from 42 tests, has struggled to find his form this year and was dropped for one match by the Wellington Hurricanes to work on his conditioning.

Hansen indicated that while he would not be keen to make too many changes after a laboured performance in Auckland, there will be a couple of alterations.

He has no real injury concerns with only Charlie Ngatai unavailable with concussion and lock Sam Whitelock "50-50" for the match at Wellington.

Hansen was relatively pleased with his side's performance on Saturday so one or two changes could suggest there could be a shakeup of his back three with Smith and Naholo on the wings and Israel Dagg brought back as full-back.

"I think we will look to keep it pretty settled at this stage. There is no point rehashing it this week and putting together another rusty performance," Hansen said.

"We need to put a few together."

International Rugby Union