The All Blacks coaches hoped the players at their recent training camp would go back to their franchises revitalised by the change of scenery but the Crusaders front row of Wyatt Crockett, Corey Flynn and Owen Franks will mark their return on the reserves bench.
Current All Blacks Crockett and Franks, plus former international Flynn, are high profile casualties of the shock loss to the Sharks in Christchurch last weekend.
Todd Blackadder is giving relative youngsters Tim Perry, Ben Funnell and Nepo Laulala a chance to impress in what is an important match against the Highlanders under the roof in Dunedin tomorrow.
The Crusaders have taken to replacing the front row after about 50 minutes due to the increased pressure placed on them at scrum time, but the demotion is likely to hurt the experienced trio.
Blackadder will hope the message will be felt by the whole of his team, who needed only a victory last weekend to go to the top of the table.