Italy's daunting trio of November internationals kicks off on Saturday when they host the All Blacks at a jam-packed San Siro Stadium in Milan.

Italy's outspoken South African coach Nick Mallett blasted the International Rugby Board for scheduling his team to play two of the top nations in the world, Australia and New Zealand, on what he labelled the "tour from hell" earlier this year. And, the year-end schedule is not much easier either.

Italy take on the All Blacks this week before facing the Springboks in Florence and then Samoa in Reggio Emilia in the succeeding weeks.

The All Blacks defeated the 12th-ranked Italians 27-6 in an unimpressive display in Christchurch in June, a result which put the Kiwis under a lot of pressure heading into, what turned out to be a disappointing Tri-Nations campaign.

The Italians will be buoyed by their brave display during their mid-year Australasian tour while the Kiwis will be hell-bent on sweeping aside the Azzuri challenge in the return match on Saturday. Italy dominated the New Zealanders in the first quarter of the Christchurch fixture and had a staggering 90 percent territory for the opening period. And a better side would have taken the Kiwis apart.

The All Blacks certainly has captured the imagination of the Italian rugby-loving public and the San Siro is a 75,000 sell-out, the second biggest crowd for a non-football event in the stadium's history. Not since boxer Duilio Loi fought Puerto Rico's Carlos Ortiz for the super-lightweight world title in 1960 have so many people packed out Milan's famous arena for something other than a soccer game.

Mallett is hoping that it sparks renewed interest in rugby in the football-obsessed country.

"It's amazing to be playing in front of such a big crowd. Even in South Africa I've never seen such a big crowd for an international match," Mallett said.

"The players are excited. We could play a great match and give Italian rugby a huge boost. That has been an incredible achievement for Italian rugby and it shows what a strong brand New Zealand are," he said.

"Arguably South Africa are the best side in the world but for an Italian, the All Blacks for some reason have managed to build this brand. Jonah Lomu must have something to do with it. I don't think rugby has ever had a crowd like this. We took a bit of a risk given the size of the stadium but it's really worked out well."

It will be the 13th time the two sides meet with the All Blacks having won every previous encounter including five at the World Cup and five in Italy.

Despite a rocky start to their 2009 campaign, the All Blacks' performances have been progressing and their 19-12 win over Wales showed a maturation of their match strategy.

It was natural for many to believe that the All Blacks would build on last year's success in 2009, but injuries to so many key players had the year start out slowly, with Richie McCaw and Dan Carter headlining a casualty ward that still has not emptied out (Ali Williams, Keven Mealamu, Richard Kahui, Isaia Toeava, Bryn Evans and Leila Masaga were not considered for the tour due to injury).

With less than two years to go before the 2011 World Cup, the All Blacks' tour was designed as an opportunity to bed-in the nucleus of a potentially championship-winning squad and the Kiwi brainstrust has also been put under the microscope as they implemented a management shake-up.

The All Blacks have made it clear that this tour is doubling as a selection expedition as the All Blacks' infamous rotation policy kicks in this week and Henry will be hoping that it doesn't backfire as it has so often in the past.

Henry's side head into the San Siro clash on the back of two solid wins over the Wallabies (Tokyo Bledisloe Cup match) and Wales in Cardiff while the Italians haven't been in action since June.

"We're just following the objectives of the tour and the objectives were one: try to play winning rugby that we're proud of in a style that we're proud of; and to give people an opportunity to play so that we can make logical selections going forward," All Black boss Graham Henry said.

"Because we've got the players to back up those selections but we cannot do that if we don't play those players. There's no other opportunity to do that, we don't play midweek fixtures, we don't have an extended tour.

"This has been clearly stated on a number of occasions that this was going to be one of the objectives of the tour, so we're just fulfilling that."

Assistant coach Wayne Smith used to live in Italy and knows how passionate the country's rugby fans can be.

"Italy will play on emotion early, they'll be very physical, they'll be hard to overcome early on," Smith said earlier this week.

"They are big boys, strong boys and aggressive so it's going to be a real battle. Our job is to try to diffuse that as quickly as we can, to try to take something away from them and try to take the crowd away from them. It's going to be a cauldron."

Players to watch:

For Italy: Italian skipper Sergio Parisse will again be a key figure for the hosts while burly prop Martin Castrogiovanni will look to dominate in the set-piece following his powerhouse display against South Africa last weekend. Aussie playmaker Craig Gower will also have the responsibility of guiding the troops against a formidable All Black backline.

For New Zealand: Ben Smith gets a chance to show his worth while another debutant, flyhalf Mike Delany will be keen to continue his Air NZ Cup form on the international stage. Lock Tom Donnely will have big boots to fill in the absence of veteran Brad Thorn while Corey Flynn will be hoping to make the most of rare start in the black jersey.

Head to head: Italy will take the All Blacks on up front and Martin Castrogiovanni along with his fellow front row teammates will look for early dominance against All Black heavies Neemia Tialata, Corey Flynn and Wyatt Crockett . Craig Gower's battle with Mike Delany will be another highlight while the midfield tussle between the exciting Tamati Ellison and Luke McAlister against Gonzalo Canale and Gonzalo Garcia should also produce some fireworks.

Recent results:
2009: Italy 6-27 New Zealand, Christchurch
2007: Italy 14-76 New Zealand, Marseille (World Cup)
2004: Italy 10-59 New Zealand, Rome
2003: Italy 7-70 New Zealand, Melbourne (World Cup)
2002: Italy 10-64 New Zealand, Hamilton
2000: Italy 19-56 New Zealand, Genoa
1999: Italy 3-101 New Zealand, Huddersfield (World Cup)
1995: Italy 6-70 New Zealand, Bologna
1991: Italy 21-31 New Zealand, Leicester (World Cup)
1987: Italy 6-70 New Zealand, Auckland (World Cup)

iafrica.com Prediction: History suggests Italy will be in for a torrid time but the Italians showed earlier this year that they won't just roll over against superior opposition and they will definitely put up a big fight in front of their home crowd. However, the revamped All Blacks will still have too much firepower to come out on top by at least 15 points.

The teams:

Italy: 15 Luke McLean, 14 Kaine Robertson, 13 Gonzalo Canale, 12 Gonzalo Garcia, 11 Mirco Bergamasco, 10 Craig Gower, 9 Tito Tebaldi, 8 Sergio Parisse (captain), 7 Mauro Bergamasco, 6 Alessandro Zanni, 5 Quintin Geldenhuys, 4 Carlo Antonio Del Fava, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Salvatore Perugini.
Replacements: 16 Fabio Ongaro, 17 Ignacio Rouyet, 18 Antonio Pavanello, 19 Simone Favaro, 20 Simon Picone, 21 Kristopher Burton, 22 Alberto Sgarbi.

New Zealand: 15 Cory Jane, 14 Ben Smith, 13 Tamati Ellison, 12 Luke McAlister, 11 Sitiveni Sivivatu, 10 Mike Delany, 9 Andy Ellis, 8 Rodney So'oialo (captain), 7 Tanerau Latimer, 6 Liam Messam, 5 Anthony Boric, 4 Tom Donnelly, 3 Neemia Tialata, 2 Corey Flynn, 1 Wyatt Crockett.
Replacements: 16 Andrew Hore, 17 John Afoa, 18 Jason Eaton, 19 Richie McCaw, 20 Jimmy Cowan, 21 Stephen Donald, 22 Mils Muliaina

Date: Saturday, November 14
Venue: San Siro Stadium, Milan
Expected weather conditions: Light Rain, high of 9?C
Kick-off: 15.00 (14.00 GMT; 03.00 NZ time, Sunday, November 15)
Referee: Stuart Dickinson (Australia)
Assistant referees: Alain Rolland (Ireland), David Changleng (Scotland)
TMO: Tim Hayes (Wales)