The promising Blake Gibson will come off the pine, while waiting in the wings are Nepia Fox-Matamua, great-grandson of the great George Nepia, and young Waitemata No8 Ari Hunt, returning from a medium-term knee injury. Dependent on ongoing All Blacks requirements, Auckland may see something of Steven Luatua in the All Blacks' 23 tonight.
Rush will oversee the Auckland forwards and the defensive systems.
"Obviously there's a fair bit of work to do on both attacking and defensive breakdowns in terms of our philosophies.
"No one person knows everything about them, so we just share ideas for what is best for the team."
He says they want to make a strong impression against Canterbury.
"It'll be evenly matched. It's a good challenge for us first up and we'll definitely know where we stand after that 80 minutes.
"We want to make that top four ... and we think we've got a team that's good enough to get there."
It may have been more appropriate if the venue was Eden Park, as it was on August 15, 1914, when Auckland played its first rep game there, against Canterbury no less, winning 11-3.
Auckland's skipper is hooker Tom McCartney, while All Black Charles Piutau lines up on the left wing. Gareth Anscombe runs the cutter at No 10, with Simon Hickey named on the bench.
Features of the Canterbury side include Matt Todd at blindside flanker, Tom Taylor at 12, and New Zealand U-20 pivot Richie Mo'unga at fullback.
