Former All Blacks and Highlanders lock, Tom Donnelly, will make his Crusaders debut when the seven-time champions confront the Blues in Auckland on Friday night in a mouth-watering start to the Super 15 season.
Donnelly beat off the challenges of Luke Romano and Ross Kennedy to get the tighthead lock's starting spot and will join All Black Sam Whitelock in the second row.
Crusaders coach Todd Blackadder said at training on Wednesday that Donnelly's lineout ability had helped influence the selection.
"We looked at the team dynamics and the way the game is being refereed at the moment and we feel there are going to be more lineouts," he said.
"So much of this week isn't about whom we consider the best players but who is ready to go right now.
"We feel that Tom and Sam together against Ali (Williams) and Anthony (Boric) will be a good match-up. Both have played really well and Luke Romano is a big, strong guy who can come on and make an impact.
"Pre-season we've seen a lot more lineouts than scrums. Last year you'd have 10 to 12 lineouts a game and at the moment we're getting that after 40 minutes. I suggest that's because of the breakdown."
Blackadder said the referees had been really strict on sealing off at the breakdown, but hoped the stream of penalties would not flow into the Super competition.
"We've done a helluva lot of work to negate that and to make sure we get our body positions right.
While they (referees) have been really harsh at the start the further the game have gone the less penalties they have given.
So, hopefully, commonsense prevails because we certainly don't want penalty-fest games."
Blackadder said he expected much of the same from the Blues. "Nothing has changed – they've got a big forward pack and they love to run the ball and get over the advantage line.
They like to send rockets around midfield to try and punch the line and they're dangerous on the counter-attack. We will see a different level of intensity."
Eight All Blacks are in the Crusaders starting XV with another two – hooker Corey Flynn and prop Owen Franks – on the bench, while wing Zac Guildford is sitting out the last of his four-match suspension imposed after his alcohol-fuelled antics in Rarotonga.
The Crusaders have had the better of the Blues in recent years, having won four of the last five clashes, although the Blues prevailed in their outing at Eden Park last year. Their encounters are traditionally tight with no more than seven points separating the sides in those five matches from 2008.
Crusaders: 1.Wyatt Crockett, 2.Quentin MacDonald, 3.Ben Franks, 4.Tom Donnelly, 5.Sam Whitelock, 6.George Whitelock, 7.Matt Todd, 8.Kieran Read (c), 9.Andy Ellis, 10.Tyler Bleyendaal, 11.Israel Dagg, 12.Ryan Crotty, 13.Robbie Fruean, 14.Sean Maitland, 15.Tom Marshall.
Reserves: 16.Corey Flynn, 17.Owen Franks, 18.Luke Romano, 19.Luke Whitelock, 20.Willi Heinz, 21.Tom Taylor, 22.Adam Whitelock.