Quade Cooper has retained his spot in a new look Australian Sevens squad for this weekend’s Canada Sevens in Vancouver.

Despite making the final for the second straight tournament, Australian coach Andy Friend has made five changes to his 12-man squad, with Lewis Holland and James Stannard both returning after missing the Las Vegas tournament.

Stephan Van Der Walt, John Porch and debutant Conor Mitchell have also been named to play.

Tom Lucas (knee) and Pat McCutcheon (hamstring) join an injury list that includes Nick Malouf (knee), Pama Fou (shoulder), Simon Kennewell (ankle), Sam Figg (virus) and Tom Cusack (wrist).

“The team performed well last weekend [in Las Vegas] but this series doesn’t wait around and as a squad we have to look forward. We want to be playing for World Series points at the top end of the table and in order to do so we need to consistently qualify for Cup Semi-Finals, Cup Finals and ultimately win Cup Finals,” Friend said.

“We’ve decided to freshen things up for Vancouver in order to give players additional experience and to manage workloads. I feel we’re building a genuine depth in our player pool at the moment and we’re slowly getting to a stage where we can count on any of the players in the program to step into the breach.”

Australia has been drawn in Pool B for the Canada Sevens alongside Russia, hosts Canada and Wales.

Friend added: “We’re playing teams who will be hungry to turn us over. Russia are newcomers who are beginning to find their feet while we know what the effect of a home crowd can have on you from our experience in Sydney. It lifts everyone and that makes Canada particularly dangerous. Wales did well in Vegas, meanwhile, to win what was a competitive Bowl competition.

“It’s exciting times for us, but at the same time, we’re taking things game-by-game. There is no other way or you run a big risk of falling short against any country.”

After making successive Cup Finals in Sydney and Las Vegas, Australia currently sits fourth in the 2015-16 HSBC Sevens World Series standings after five rounds, nine points behind third-placed New Zealand.

Australian 12-man squad for Canada Sevens

Henry Hutchison, Tom Kingston, Sam Myers, Lewis Holland, James Stannard, Con Foley, Boyd Killingworth, Stephan Van Der Walt, John Porch, Allan Fa’alava’au, Quade Cooper, Conor Mitchell.