"Being the captain of the team doesn't come down to how long you've been in it. It's whether you're good enough to do that. He's definitely got the ability. He's a natural leader. He's been leading them for most of the week. It comes naturally to him. I'm very confident he'll do a good job."
The group Whitelock leads features six players on debut, and 14 from the scrappy win over the Baabaas.
The All Blacks have, as expected, protected the vast majority of their test squad. Liam Squire is the notable exception, named to start at blindside after recovering from a virus which ruled him out of the French test. Ardie Savea joins Squire and Whitelock in the loose forward trio.
Tawera Kerr-Barlow, in what could be his final outing for the All Blacks, and Lima Sopoaga form an experienced halves partnership, with Canterbury duo Mitchell Drummond and Richie Mo'unga the only back cover on the bench.
The 6/2 split has been done so Akira Ioane, called in from New Zealand Maori, can limit Squire's involvement, with a test against Scotland four days later to consider.
Of the fringe prospects, Jack Goodhue may have the biggest itch.
He would have debuted from centre or off the bench against the Baabaas alongside fellow rookies Tim Perry, Matt Duffie and Asafo Aumua.
Instead, he stayed at home battling the mumps, and therefore remains the only member of the main touring squad yet to pull on the black jersey.
Outside Hurricanes second five-eighth Ngani Laumape, the Northland prospect will finally get his chance.
Duffie, Perry and Jeff Toomaga-Allen make their maiden starts. Hansen also revealed Chiefs tighthead Atu Moli is being groomed as a loosehead.
On the bench, little-known Otago openside Dillon Hunt, who began the year in second-tier club rugby, Ioane, Moli, Drummond and Mo'unga are all set of their first appearances.
Hansen, meanwhile, went into bat for Sonny Bill Williams after his yellow card incident.
"Here's a guy who has played two codes and the other code you're allowed to do it. I watched the English and French [league] game and they did it 10 times and I'm thinking 'no wonder the poor bugger did it'.
"The penalty was extreme because at the end of the day if he knew the law he would've caught it. It's an expensive way to find out - but then again it wasn't that expensive. It didn't cost us the game; it wasn't a World Cup or Bledisloe Cup final. We've just got to take it on the chin for what it is and move on. It was a little bit of naivety on the laws.
"If he hadn't have done that you'd all be telling us how well he played."
All Blacks team:
15 David Havili, 14 Matt Duffie, 13 Jack Goodhue, 12 Ngani Laumape, 11 Seta Tamanivalu, 10 Lima Sopoaga, 9 Tawera Kerr-Barlow, 8 Luke Whitelock, 7 Ardie Savea, 6 Liam Squire, 5 Dominic Bird, 4 Patrick Tuipulotu, 3 Jeff Toomaga-Allen, 2 Nathan Harris, 1 Tim Perry.
Reserves: Asafo Aumua, Atu Moli, Ofa Tu'ungafasi, Scott Barrett, Akira Ioane, Dillon Hunt, Mitchell Drummond, Richie Mo'unga
