Cruden on Chiefs' bench
Cruden, who suffered a neck injury in the second Test against Wales in Wellington, was selected as cover for starting flyhalf, Stephen Donald.
Donald was impressive in the Chiefs' 40-7 thrashing of Wales in Hamilton, which convinced the Chiefs coaches that he was ready for a starting role. Assistant coach Neil Barnes has revealed that the 32-year-old had been running the show while the Chiefs' All Blacks were away, and Cruden's injury played no part in the selection process.
"It wasn't because Aaron is injured, because Aaron is ready to play. We've put three weeks hard work into this game and Stephen's been right across it, driving training the whole time.
"Going on his form in the Welsh game, which we thought was pretty good, we thought we'd give him the opportunity to go out there and run the game for us, but obviously Aaron will be coming out at some stage. He's a very experienced man and part of our attack group as well.
"The tactics for the Crusaders game have been driven by him and KK [Chiefs assistant coach Kieran Keane]. It saves Aaron having to walk back in from the All Blacks camp and drive things at training.
"He's a very experienced player and at No.10, it's a big help to the side when you've got someone like that leading. He's been awesome," Barnes said.
Head coach Dave Rennie admitted he wouldn't start all of his All Blacks but the two who started each Test, Brodie Retallick and Sam Cane are named in the forwards. While Nathan Harris, Cruden and Tawera Kerr-Barlow will all come off the bench, with McKenzie – who didn't play any minutes against Wales – resuming his duties at fullback.
The tropical climate of Fiji is a fitting venue for this contest as veteran hooker Hika Elliot is set to run out in his 100th Chiefs appearance.
Chiefs: 15 Damian McKenzie, 14 Toni Pulu, 13 Seta Tamanivalu, 12 Anton Lienert-Brown, 11 James Lowe, 10 Stephen Donald, 9 Brad Weber, 8 Tom Sanders, 7 Sam Cane (captain), 6 Taleni Seu, 5 Brodie Retallick, 4 Dominic Bird, 3 Hiroshi Yamashita, 2 Hika Elliot, 1 Kane Hames.
Replacements: 16 Nathan Harris, 17 Siegfried Fisi'ihoi, 18 Atu Moli, 19 Mitchell Brown, 20 Lachlan Boshier, 21 Tawera Kerr-Barlow, 22 Aaron Cruden, 23 Sam McNicol.
Date: Friday, July 1
Venue: National Stadium, Suva, Fiji
Kick-off: 19.35 (07.35 GMT)
Referee: Andrew Lees (Australia)
Assistant referees: Rohan Hoffmann (Australia), Will Houston (Australia)
TMO: George Ayoub (Australia)
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