All Blacks coach Steve Hansen has admitted veteran hooker Andrew Hore won't be at the 2015 World Cup - with the 34-year-old likely to retire before the end of the year.
That's why Dane Coles will start at hooker in his first test against South Africa in one of five changes for the Rugby Championship encounter at Eden Park on Saturday night.
Ma'a Nonu's the only switch in the backs with four of the five changes in the pack.
A fit again Owen Franks returns at tight head prop, Sam Cane's in for the injured skipper Richie McCaw and a fit again Liam Messam returns at blindside which means Stephen Luatua drops to the reserves bench.
Coles knows the wait will soon be over to realise a boyhood dream.
"As a young boy it was watching the Boks and the All Blacks so it's one I'm really looking forward to," he says.
It's a test that will show if Coles truly is the future at hooker.
"I don't think it's make or break, it's all about he's the guy we see going forward," says All Blacks coach Steve Hansen.
In the post-2011 World Cup cleanout Hore could be the last to go - the changing of the guard complete if, as expected, he retires later in the year.
"I don't see Horey being there and I don't think he sees himself being there. At some point we're going to have to make a change and we need Colesy to be ready when we make that change," says Hansen.
Sam Cane's another with a potentially career-defining opportunity in what's his first test against South Africa.
Hansen says Messam's experience and superior physicality gave him the nod ahead of the impressive Luatua on the other flank with close-quarter combat expected by the Boks.
In a pack missing McCaw, Hansen has heaped the pressure on his senior players.
"When you play the big games, and this is definitely a big game, your big players have got to step up. That's when you expect them to be at their best," he says.
A reputation Coles and Cane know they need to live up to if theirs are to be long test careers.
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source: newshub archive
