The Boks only have two Tests left in the shortened Castle Lager Rugby Championship, and two more internationals against Argentina and Japan, before the start of the Rugby World Cup in September, and Erasmus is looking forward to seeing what his team can do against the defending world champions.

To see the team for Saturday, click here.

“We have the outmost respect for the All Blacks who are the undisputed number one rugby team in the world,” said Erasmus.

“We know we will have to be at our very best to be competitive against the All Blacks on Saturday and that is why we have sent a group of players in advance to Wellington, so they could acclimatise after the long trip over from South Africa.

“The New Zealanders are a very experienced and settled side while we have some catching up to do in terms of where the two sides are at the moment.

“They are bringing back their Crusaders players, who were all rested after the Vodacom Super Rugby final, so we are in for a huge battle against the best team in the world,” added Erasmus.

Regarding the decision to hand the leadership duties to Vermeulen, Erasmus said: “It is important that we continue to build on our leadership for this important year, especially while our regular skipper, Siya Kolisi, is out of action because of injury rehabilitation.

“Duane is an experienced captain and we have a strong group of leaders in the team, which includes Eben Etzebeth and Pieter-Steph du Toit, who have both captained the Springboks before, as well as a number of other franchise captains.”