Beauden Barrett All Blacks captain vs Wales
Beauden Barrett will captain the All Blacks for the first time in his 149th Test after being retained at fullback in a changed side for the Nations Championship clash against Wales in Cardiff.
Barrett will pass Richie McCaw in the all-time records and be second only to Sam Whitelock on 153 Tests. He's also has 50 All Blacks Test tries, one ahead of Doug Howlett, and closing in on Will Jordan’s record of 56.
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Richie Mo'unga, meanwhile, returns at first five in one of eight changes to the starting XV that overwhelmed Scotland 43-21 in the November opener in Edinburgh last week as the All Blacks remained unbeaten in the inaugural Nations Championship following a trio of wins in July.
Mo'unga hasn't featured since the fourth Test against South Africa in Baltimore in September, when New Zealand were beaten 43-28 as they suffered a 3-1 series defeat by the world champions.
A calf tear then ruled him out of the Bledisloe Cup clashes with Australia.
Mo'unga replaces the impressive Damian McKenzie, rested after a heavy workload.
The All Blacks have made 10 changes in total to their match-day 23 at Murrayfield, including two on the bench, as they look to keep key players fresh ahead of next week's clash with England and the subsequent finals weekend, also at Twickenham.
The All Blacks having posted 34 successive wins over Wales since their last loss in 1953
Beauden Barrett (capt); Fehi Fineanganofo, Quinn Tupaea, Anton Lienert-Brown, Josh Moorby; Richie Mo'unga, Cortez Ratima; Wallace Sititi, Peter Lakai, Anton Segner; Josh Lord, Scott Barrett; Fletcher Newell, Asafo Aumua, George Bower
Replacements: George Bell, Xavier Numia, Pasilio Tosi, Jamie Hannah, Ethan Blackadder, Leicester Fainga'anuku, Kyle Preston, Rieko Ioane
