Wales have made three changes to the team which lost 34-31 to an under-strength South African side in Cardiff two weeks ago.

Centre Andrew Bishop replaces James Hook who has a shoulder injury, flanker Gavin Thomas replaces Sam Warburton and lock Alun Wyn Jones takes the place of Deiniol Jones who will be relegated to bench.

Wales will be looking for its first win New Zealand soil when it takes on the All Blacks on Saturday.

Richie McCaw will captain the All Blacks in his 81st test match and admits a victory is not guaranteed.

McCaw’s first test as captain was against Wales at Cardiff in 2004 where the All Blacks won 27-25, keeping alive a winning record against the Welsh which has endured for 21 tests over 57 years.

McCaw says what worries him about Wales is its ability to exploit space and the fact the team has become more physical up front.

The match will be the last test played at Carisbrook, the notorious “House of Pain” which has hosted international rugby matches in Dunedin for 102 years.

“In the Northern Hemisphere, they were the ones who led the ability to really exploit space. I guess that’s come from the influence of (New Zealanders) Steve Hansen and company coaching up there,” McCaw said.

“I think they’ve got a better feel for that and they’ve been a bit more physical up front in the last couple of years. It’s been a pretty good challenge so I think they’ll be a sterner test there.”

The Welsh should pose less of a challenge to New Zealand than Ireland who beat Wales, as did France and England, in this year’s Six Nations Championship.

New Zealand beat Ireland nine tries to four to begin its international season in impressive form. However, it’s defense proved unusually yielding and it gave up four tries when Ireland was reduced to 14 men.

The Welsh, however, doubt the All Blacks’ defense will be as porous on Saturday.

“There is no doubt that New Zealand have a very, very strong defense as they’ve proved in the last two times we’ve played them,” Wales assistant coach Shaun Edwards said.

“We’ve had a lot of field position, we’ve kicked penalties and we’ve come very close but we haven’t scored a try in our last two encounters so we’d like to think we can go one better this time and hopefully get a try or two,” he said.

New Zealand has made only one change to the team which beat Ireland 66-28 in a one-off test last weekend, naming Victor Vito to make his first All Blacks start on the blindside flank in place of Jerome Kaino.

Teams :

New Zealand: Israel Dagg, Cory Jane, Conrad Smith, Benson Stanley, Joe Rokocoko, Dan Carter, Jimmy Cowan, Kieran Read, Richie McCaw (captain), Victor Vito, Anthony Boric, Brad Thorn, Owen Franks, Keven Mealamu, Ben Franks.

Reserves: Aled de Malmanche, Tony Woodcock, Sam Whitelock, Adam Thomson, Piri Weepu, Aaron Cruden, Richard Kahui.

Wales: Lee Byrne, Leigh Halfpenny, Andrew Bishop, Jamie Roberts, Tom Prydie, Stephen Jones, Mike Phillips, Ryan Jones (captain), Gavin Thomas, Jonathan Thomas, Alun Wyn Jones, Bradley Davies, Adam Jones, Matthew Rees, Paul James.

Reserves: Huw Bennett, John Yapp, Deiniol Jones, Rob McCusker, Tavis Knoyle, Dan Biggar, Jonathan Davies.