Jack Goodhue has won the contentious outside centre berth in a near-full strength All Blacks team to face the Wallabies in Sydney.
In one of the few dilemmas for coach Steve Hansen, rising star Goodhue will play his second Test in the Bledisloe Cup opener on Saturday, seeing off the more accomplished Anton Lienert Brown.
Hansen said it was a case of going with a proven combination, with Goodhue lining up at outside centre alongside his Crusaders teammate Ryan Crotty, who has shifted to the No.12 jersey to replace the injured Sonny Bill Williams.
"Ryan and Jack have played a lot of footy together and LB (Lienert Brown) has come of the bench a lot for us,' Hansen said.
"We like what LB does for us coming off the bench, he's used to it and we're starting with a combination that's really rock solid and played most of the season together."
Hansen has stuck closely to the team who whitewashed France 3-0 in June, although the world champions were hit with a late injury blow on Thursday.
After being named on the bench, prop Ofa Tu'ungafasi was ruled out after suffering rib cartilage damage.
The dynamic tighthead, who has started all 17 of his Tests off the bench, is replaced by the uncapped Tim Perry, with Jeff Toomaga-Allen to cross the Tasman as cover.
Hansen sprung a surprise when omitting Jordie Barrett, the first-choice fullback against France.
Ben Smith shifts from the right wing to his specialist fullback berth, with Highlanders teammate Waisake Naholo restored out wide.
"It's been an ongoing process with Jordie, he's a young player and we're happy with what we got in (the Tests against) France," Hansen said.
"We just think it's time now to take him back out and have a bit of reflection on that and give Wais (Naholo) an opportunity to show us what he''s made of.
"Also, it lets us put Ben back to fullback so it's a combination of all those three things."
The only other changes from Hansen's strongest side against France are the return from injury of captain Kieran Read at No.8 and lock Brodie Retallick, boosting the pack considerably.
Lock Sam Whitelock will become the first All Blacks second rower to reach 100 caps.
The only players missing from potentially New Zealand's strongest side are Williams and injured hooker Dane Coles.
ALL BLACKS: Ben Smith, Waisake Naholo, Jack Goodhue, Ryan Crotty, Rieko Ioane, Beauden Barrett, Aaron Smith, Kieran Read (capt), Sam Cane, Liam Squire, Sam Whitelock, Brodie Retallick, Owen Franks, Codie Taylor, Joe Moody. Res: Nathan Harris, Karl Tu'inukuafe, Ofa Tuungafasi, Scott Barrett, Ardie Savea, TJ Perenara, Damian McKenzie, Anton Lienert-Brown.
