The two sides will play at the Southern Field Days as both teams look to set some benchmarks for the season.
The Highlanders have changed all but three players from the starting XV that took on Racing 92 in Hong Kong last Saturday night.
Fullback Matt Faddes, winger Patrick Osborne and halfback Josh Renton are the only players who started last Saturday's game to get the start tonight.
All Black halfback Aaron Smith will start off the bench and Ben Smith misses out altogether.
Coach Jamie Joseph said the approach for the first two games was to have everyone get a run, and with the short turnaround, players would get to show their wares.
‘‘It is a chance to put their best foot forward and you can only do that when you play a game of footy,'' Joseph said.
‘‘It is a unique opportunity to play a game like this at the farming shows, two archrivals, and I think it will be a great day.
‘‘But our focus will be about performing. For the players who have been selected to play, they really want to play well because it is their chance, perhaps their only chance, to play well.''
Joseph said the Hong Kong game had a real intensity to it and the players had been a bit flat in the couple of days since returning from Hong Kong.
‘‘We want to perform well, and test our systems. Last week we thought we did some good stuff. Throughout, everything we trained during the week we executed well. But at the end of the day we did not get across the line, so it did not feel as good as it could have.
‘‘This week we just want to step it up another level. We certainly do not want to make as many mistakes, we do not want to drop off after halftime.''
He said All Black fullback and co-captain Ben Smith wanted to play today but he would play next week against the Waratahs in Queenstown.
‘‘He is a key player for us and we tend to, as do the All Blacks, use him in every minute of the game.''
The coach had to look at the entire season, rather than just one game.
Joseph was impressed with the performance of Faddes against Racing and the Highlanders did need to get backup for Ben Smith.
Luke Whitelock would captain the Highlanders side and his elder brother, Sam, would captain the Crusaders.
This is a new era for the Crusaders. There is no McCaw, Carter or Slade.
Names like George Bridge, Sean Wainui and Mike Alaalatoa will now wear the Crusaders jersey.
The Crusaders made an encouraging start by beating the Reds 31-3 in Brisbane last weekend.
Pre-season games are no indication to the season, but tonight should be an occasion.
The Highlanders will want to have a solid set piece, hold on to the ball and take chances when they come along.
The top side is likely to play the Waratahs next Friday night.
