Bledisloe Cup

While skipper Read has been New Zealand's first choice number eight for the last decade and Cane has made the openside flanker spot his own since the retirement of Richie McCaw, Savea is not an experienced blindside flanker.

More usually found at openside or number eight, the hard-running, ball-stealing 25-year-old has been given a chance to lock up the number six shirt for the World Cup as Hansen continues his "risk and reward" experimentation policy.

Savea makes his first start at blindside flanker, with captain Kieran Read at number eight and Sam Cane at openside.

Coach Steve Hansen seems to have had a change of heart about playing loose forward Savea at number six.

Hansen has said previously he doesn't believe Savea has the bulk to play at blindside but has opted to play him there rather than moving skipper Kieran Read to the side of the scrum and bringing Savea in at number eight.

Australia do not name their team until Thursday but it is understood coach Michael Cheika is set to make a number of changes for the match at Perth on Saturday.

O'Connor's selection at No 13 in place of Tevita Kuridrani is set to be the big talking point, with the Brumbies centre understood to have been left out of the match day 23 altogether.

It caps a remarkable comeback for O'Connor, who played his first game since 2013 for the Wallabies two weeks ago in Brisbane, coming off the bench.

Those players now look to be out of the running for Rugby World Cup spots unless there are injuries during the tests against the Wallabies.  

The omission of Tu'inukuafe comes just one year after he took test rugby by storm with his powerful scrummaging, but the Blues loosehead did not play a lot of rugby in the second half of the Super Rugby season.

Athough Ioane has been omitted, he will assemble with the squad to continue his development behind Beauden Barrett and Richie Mo'unga.

Australia has already lost the series for a 16th-straight year but the Wallabies have a chance to salvage some pride and win back some fans with a good showing in Japan.

Jack Dempsey, Sefa Naivalu and Samu Kerevi will all be returning from long injury layoffs for the clash after Reece Hodge's fractured ankle ruled him out of the tour.

Adam Coleman is a big name missing in the pack after suffering a groin injury this week, replaced by Rob Simmons in the starting lineup.

But Barrett pointed to Australia's stunning recent fightback against Argentina -- when they wiped out a 24-point half-time deficit to win 45-34 -- as evidence the Wallabies have turned the corner after losing six of their eight previous Tests.

"We always get a confident Australia, there's no doubt about that," the two-time world player of the year told reporters.

"They've probably rediscovered that bit of belief that may have been missing. It was a great comeback, we acknowledge that -- be we weren't surprised to see them come back.

Barrett was instrumental when the All Blacks ran riot in the second half to beat the Wallabies in Sydney last weekend and the two-time World Rugby Player of the Year made history with another masterclass in Auckland on Saturday.

The outstanding fly-half claimed a first-half double and another two tries after the break, also scoring 10 points from the tee to finish with a tally of 30 as Australia were blown away.

Farr-Jones, who played 63 matches for the Wallabies from 1984 to 1993, was a part of the last Wallabies side to win against the All Blacks at Eden Park.

Ahead of Saturday's second Bledisloe Cup test at the Auckland venue, the 56-year-old told Radio Sport's D'Arcy Waldegrave the way the Australians played in the second half of last weekend's 38-13 All Blacks win in Sydney was a real concern.

Israel Folau's ankle injury has prompted Cheika to shift Dane Haylett-Petty from wing to fullback and introduce winger Jack Maddocks for his first Test start.

There are four changes in total from the team that lost 38-13 in Sydney last week.

Two of those come at prop in response to a back-pedalling scrum.

Scott Sio returns from injury to replace Tom Robertson on the loosehead side while, in a minor surprise, Brumbies prop Allan Alaalatoa is at tighthead in place of the experienced Sekope Kepu.

Laumape replaces Ryan Crotty at second five eighth and Jordie Barrett starts at fullback with Ben Smith going onto the right wing and Waisake Naholo moving across to the left wing for the injured Rieko Ioane.

The forward pack is the same that won the opening game in Sydney with Owen Franks set to play his 100th Test.

Ofa Tuungafasi comes back onto the reserves bench for Tim Perry.