Luke McAlister will have his chance to stake a claim as the prospective candidate to replace Dan Carter in the All Blacks squad for the Bledisloe Cup/Tri Nations game in Sydney in a fortnight.
He has been named at first five-eighths for North Harbour in Sunday's clash with Bay of Plenty in Rotorua.
Harbour's head coach Craig Dowd was impressed with McAlister's impact at first five-eighths in last week's win over Otago when Harbour recovered from a 9-23 halftime deficit to win 35-23.
Dowd said: "Luke brings so much experience to the position and talking to the players after the Otago game, they say he made a big difference when he went to [No.] 10.
"His option-taking and the way he steered us around the park was excellent. So his selection there is really recognition of how Luke played and he has been getting better and better. His confidence is really growing and he has been a standout player for us."
In other changes to his side Dowd has named Tom Chamberlain on the blindside flank with Malakai Ravulo at openside.
"We are very conscious of their loose forwards," Dowd said of the Bay of Plenty combination.
"They have some handy players there who will put some real pressure at the breakdown and they also have halfback [Taniela] Moa who is like a fourth loose forward. He is a big, strong ball carrier who will snipe around the fringes and try and attack us there.
"We are starting with the same forward pact that finished against Otago as they did a good job for us and there is pressure from others sitting behind them on the bench like Matt Luamanu who has been a quality performer for us this season," he said.
The team is: 1.Michael Reid (captain), 2.James Parsons, 3.Ben Afeaki, 4.James King, 5.Anthony Boric, 6.Tom Chamberlain, 7.Malakai Ravulo, 8.Richard Mayhew, 9.Chris Smylie, 10.Luke McAlister, 11.Ken Pisi, 12.Brendon Watt, 13.Jack Tarrant, 14.Alipate Fatafehi, 15.Jack McPhee.
Reserves: 16.Mike Mayhew, 17.Taione Vea, 18.Filo Paulo, 19.Matt Luamanu, 20.Grayson Hart, 21.Michael Harris, 22.Nafi Tuitavake.