All Blacks coach Steve Hansen has dismissed talks that the black jersey is being "cheapened" for Saturday's test against Japan in Tokyo.
Hansen has named eight uncapped players in his 23-man squad to face the Brave Blossoms, while 23 of his best players have flown to London to prepare for next week's test against England at Twickenham.
The team to face Japan boats just 178 tests of international experience, making it one of the most inexperienced All Blacks sides ever.
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Fans and pundits say the All Blacks jersey has been "cheapened" by selecting so many novice players - some of whom haven't even played Super Rugby before.
The team's been compared to the famous 1986 'Baby Blacks' side which only had four players with test experience that played France is Christchurch.
The All Blacks were forced to name inexperienced squad as numerous top players were suspended for taking part in the unsanctioned Cavaliers tour to South Africa that year.
"We play so many test matches now and we play so many Super Rugby games that it's nonsense when you hear people say they didn't give test caps away like this years ago," Hansen said.
"They only played four or five test matches and probably six or seven provincial games. Today we're playing 14 or 15 test matches alone and you just can't ask the same people to do it all the time and play to the level we're expecting them and asking them to play at.
"Over the last few years we've looked at ways of trying to skin the cat and last year we split the squad to Argentina and South Africa and this year the opportunity to play the Bledisloe up here was too good to turn down because of the opportunity to experiment and get a feel for Japan.
"The idea of actually having two weeks here was better than having one. Hence was asked to play Japan and once we decided that then it was a matter of saying righto, how is that going to affect us against England, Ireland and Italy? and we chose to say right, we'd like to bring some extra players."
Flanker Dalton Papali'i and centre Matt Proctor will start in their debut matches while prop Tyrel Lomax, loose forwards Dillon Hunt and Gareth Evans, halfback Mitchell Drummond, first five-eighth Brett Cameron and outside back George Bridge are the others slated for test debuts off the bench.
"We're going to give some guys very valuable experiences," added Hansen. "We'll get to see if they can cope and this is a young side, there is no disputing that.
"The expectation is that they go play and play well, so that puts pressure on them and you can see how they perform in that pressure, which going forward, that gives you an opportunity to make sound judgements when making selections next year."
Hansen admitted that his young squad can't take Japan highly.
"They will play at 100 miles an hour," he said. "They don't want a physical contest a la South Africa or Argentina - they want to hit and run. We need to be awake and not switch off.
"Is there a risk in what we're doing? Yes. But the reward is well worth the risk. We are giving players the opportunity to represent their country to find out more about them.
"We get to send another group of players to acclimatise in an environment which is going to be full-on. We're winning everywhere."
The All Blacks last played Japan in 2013, winning 54-6 in Tokyo.
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