New Zealand coach Gordon Tietjens today named five new faces in an inexperienced squad of 12 for this weekend's Wellington Sevens tournament at the WestpacTrust Stadium.

With long-serving captain Eric Rush injured with the broken leg sustained at the World Cup , and Super 12 preparations taking precedence over the World Sevens Series, Tietjens has only been able to call on Karl Te Nana, Jonah Lomu and Jared Going from the 10 players who won the World Cup in Argentina on January 28.

However,New Zealand's squad is bolstered by the return of experienced forward Craig De Goldi, who was ruled out of World Cup contention with an arm injury, and Waikato's Damian Karauna, but it still has a heavily inexperienced and youthful look.

Of the 12, Chris Masoe (Taranaki), Hayden Reid (Otago), Tafai Ioasa (Hawke's Bay), Ross Martin and Nick Collins (both Bay of Plenty) have yet to play for New Zealand, while Wanganui's Donovan Nepia and Canterbury's Johnny Leo'o have had limited playing time as injury replacements. Nepia replaced De Goldi for the World Series tournaments in Dubai and South Africa late last year while Leo'o was called in to the squad for Dubai.

Coach Tietjens said his side was desperate to perform well in Wellington after last year's disappointing loss to Fiji in the final, but he warned that the New Zealanders would have to be considered true outsiders to land the title.

"This tournament is going to be an incredibly tough challenge for us. We're the World Champions now, and we're also leading the World Series after winning in South Africa and Dubai, so everyone will be gunning for us, but that's something the young guys will have to learn to live with and hopefully use as motivation," Tietjens said.

"In Karl, Jonah, Jared, Goldi and Damian we've got a core group who know what's required to win, but overall we're pretty light on experience compared with the likes of Fiji, Australia and even Canada, who we meet in pool play on Friday night," Tietjens said.

"We've just finished a training camp where the new guys have shown the skills and pace I need, but at the end of the day it takes time to develop the vision and team patterns that win these sorts of tournaments and we might be a bit short in that department."

However Tietjens can have few doubts over the talents and motivation of his senior players after New Zealand's recent success at the World Cup.

"Karl has certainly established himself as one of the best Sevens players in the world and he did a fantastic job of leading the boys in Mar del Plata after Rushie was injured," he said.

"Jonah's performance on the final day of the World Cup speaks for itself, really. He loves Sevens and I know he is really motivated to do well in Wellington - he felt he let his teammates and his fans down last year, and that's why he will be playing Sevens this weekend and not training with the Hurricanes.

"Jared Going has really come on in leaps and bounds recently. He took another step up with his performances at the World Cup and his energy and vision will be a huge asset for us. Damian has been around for a while and it's good to have Goldi fit again too - he was very much in the running for a place at the World Cup until the last minute so I guess he has something special to play for this weekend.

"Those five guys are going to have to really lead from the front this weekend, which I know they will."

The full New Zealand squad is :

Karl Te Nana ( North Harbour), Jared Going ( Northland),Jonah Lomu ( Wellington ),Craig de Goldi ( Auckland), Damian Karauna ( Waikato), Chris Masoe (Taranaki),Hayden Reid ( Otago), Tafai Ioasa (Hawke's Bay), Ross Martin ( Bay of Plenty), Nick Collins ( Bay of Plenty ), Donovan Nepia (Wanganui), Johnny Leo'o.