Bay of Plenty pivot Mike Delany is one of three new caps named in Graham Henry's All Blacks side that will face Italy at the San Siro Stadium in Milan on Saturday.

Delany comes in for banned flyhalf Dan Carter while wing Ben Smith and centre Tamati Ellison will also make their test bows in the All Blacks shirt with No.8 Rodney So'oialo captaining the side for the fifth time.

Henry has rung the changes keeping just three players from the side that won 19-12 against Wales at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium last Saturday.

The All Blacks are expecting an even bigger and more passionate crowd than the close to 75 000 who crowded into the Cardiff stadium.

"It will be a marvellous experience playing at the AC Milan ground [San Siro] in front of 82 000 [people]. I'm sure that will create a lot of edge for the Italian side and hopefully also for the All Blacks," said Henry, who defended his selection of a largely inexperienced team.

"We've done it before, I dont know if New Zealanders get annoyed about it or if you [the press] do.

Despite picking a relatively inexperienced team, the All Blacks bench is something to envy with regular captain Richie McCaw joined by the likes of Andrew Hore, Jimmy Cowan and Mils Muliaina.

In fact New Zealand's seven reserves between them have 80 caps more than the starting 15.

Assistant coach Wayne Smith used to live in Italy and knows how passionate the country's rugby fans can be. He said it would be a test of character for his players.

"I went to the Italy-France [Six Nations] game in Rome this year and in the stand opposite me the fans held up cards making out the Italy flag," he explained. "It was impressive, it's going to be passionate and loud. It's hard to explain that to the boys until they get out there.

"We've got to make sure it doesn't hit them all of a sudden. I think last year against Munster we got caught in the lights a bit, we can't afford to do that.

"It's all about: can you stand up under that pressure, have you got the character to be an All Black, and we'll find out about some young men on Saturday.

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, Novermber 14
Venue: San Siro, Milan
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)