The All Blacks will roll out the heavy artillery as they attempt to nip an Australian uprising in the bud in Saturday's crucial World Cup yardstick at Eden Park.

New Zealand coach Graham Henry is set to Thursday make six changes to boost his starting team for an intriguing Bledisloe Cup encounter which will also be pivotal to Tri Nations success.

Influential forwards Brad Thorn, Kieran Read, Owen Franks and Keven Mealamu will all make their returns from rest to fully test a Wallabies pack that still has questions over its steel up front.

While those changes to the side which thumped South Africa 40-7 have been expected, Henry is also set to unleash creative halfback Piri Weepu and dangerous winger Hosea Gear, who has overcome a hamstring injury.

Fit-again Weepu is challenging Jimmy Cowan as the No.1 half but is seen as a bigger danger in attack, while Gear will ensure Wallabies wonderkid James O'Connor will have his hands full on the right wing.

Australia will also line up at full strength with coach Robbie Deans expected to name the same starting 15 which beat the second-string Springboks 39-20 in a major confidence-booster a fortnight ago.

Wallabies hooker Stephen Moore described it as a huge clash, with major ramifications, before flying out to Auckland from Brisbane on Wednesday night.

"It is massive, the Bledisloe Cup and the Tri-Nations are on the line, there is heaps at stake and it is a very important game," Moore said.

"The winner will have a confidence advantage (before the World Cup); to win a game this year at Eden Park would be massive for us, it is something that we haven't been able to achieve for (25) years."

While the World Cup is the real prize for the year, the Wallabies are desperate to reclaim the Bledisloe for the first time since 2002 and win just their third Tri-Nations title in 16 years.

A first win in New Zealand in 10 years would have them well placed to snare both pieces of silverware later this month.

The All Blacks have stressed the importance of retaining the Bledisloe Cup immediately and not leave it to squaring the series in Brisbane on August 27.

"It's something that's pretty hard to win (back) when you lose it and we don't want to lose it, we want to keep hold of it, and this year's no different," assistant coach Steve Hansen said.

Meantime, discarded Wallabies veteran Nathan Sharpe is likely to be taken to South Africa next week to suggest Robbie Deans still has the 95-Test lock in his World Cup plans.

Sharpe will play Brisbane club rugby for University on Saturday after being overlooked with Dan Vickerman given his chance on the bench and Sitaleki Timani taken for development purposes.

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