Steve Hansen has named the All Blacks team to take on Tonga in their final group stage game at St James’ Park this Friday evening.

There is a significant milestone in the midfield, where Ma’a Nonu wins his 100th cap. Sam Cane starts on the openside in place of Richie McCaw, while Kieran Read takes over the captaincy.

Hansen said: “We’ve had a very heavy workload in the last two weeks on the training pitch and a couple of very physical games, which has been great. But this week we’ve been looking to freshen the group up and really concentrate on the key parts of our game that we expect will deliver a quality, 80-minute performance on Friday night. We’re now getting to an exciting part of the competition -one game out from knockout footy.

“We know the Tongans will be very physical and bring everything to this final Pool match. They’re a proud nation who we’ve faced on a number of occasions. One only has to remember their last Pool match against France in 2011 to know that if you don’t turn up, they will make life difficult for you.”

NEW ZEALAND TEAM TO PLAY TONGA

1. Tony Woodcock (117 caps)
2. Dane Coles (32)
3. Owen Franks (74)
4. Luke Romano (21)
5. Samuel Whitelock (69)
6. Jerome Kaino (63)
7. Sam Cane (27)
8. Kieran Read (80) – captain
9. Aaron Smith (43)
10. Daniel Carter (108)
11. Waisake Naholo (2)
12. Ma’a Nonu (99)
13. Conrad Smith (90)
14. Nehe Milner-Skudder (4)
15. Ben Smith (44)

Replacements

16. Keven Mealamu (128)
17. Wyatt Crockett (43)
18. Ben Franks (44)
19. Brodie Retallick (43)
20. Liam Messam (42)
21. Tawera Kerr-Barlow (17)
22. Beauden Barrett (32)
23. Sonny Bill Williams (29)