Five years in the international wilderness will come to an end for Daniel Braid when he runs out at ANZ Stadium in Sydney on Saturday.

The 27-year-old was confirmed to start at openside flanker for New Zealand in their highly anticipated Bledisloe Cup clash with Australia when All Blacks captain Richie McCaw failed to recover sufficiently from his ankle injury and was ruled out on Wednesday.

McCaw returned to training on Monday, ahead of schedule, after a month-long lay-off but had been rated only a 50-50 chance of playing by coach Graham Henry when he announced his team on Tuesday with McCaw bracketed alongside Braid.

Twenty-four hours later, with McCaw conceding defeat in his battle to be fit, Braid got the news he would be pulling on the black jersey for the first time since the 2003 World Cup.

"I'm pretty excited to be honest," said Braid.

"I've been preparing all week like I'm going to be playing with the knowledge that Richie could be there but now I've got the nod I'm really excited."

Braid admitted that at the start of the week he did not hold out much hope of adding to his international caps against Wales, Canada and Tonga, the last of which came during the 2003 World Cup.

"But how he (McCaw) recovered after training - I could see he was getting sore - and I started thinking maybe I might get the nod," Braid added.

Still, he had not been certain enough of playing to tell his family to make arrangements to get to Sydney.

"I'll ring them all now and tell them and see if they want to go over," he added. "It would be very special (if they made it)."

Saturday's game will undoubtedly be the most challenging one of Braid's international career to date.

His first Test against Wales in Cardiff in 2002, which the All Blacks won 43-17, was a memorable occasion but he expects his first Tri-Nations/Bledisloe Cup encounter to top that.

"My first Test against Wales was definitely the toughest I've had," said Braid. "There were 80,000 singing Welshmen with the roof closed on that stadium. It will definitely be a step up this time with 80,000 screaming Aussies there."

The opposition will also be a step up in class with Braid taking on the highly-rated Australian openside George Smith, who will captain the Wallabies in the absence of Stirling Mortlock, in the battle of the breakdown.

Braid, however, is undaunted about the task ahead and knows exactly what to expect from his opposite number.

"I've played quite a few years against George (in the Super 14) and he's a very good player, really solid at the breakdown," said Braid.

"You've got to get him early before he gets there (to the ruck) because he gets in a very good position.

"He's also a very good ball-runner for their team. He's one of their key carriers when they are turning over phases. Being able to shut him down is very important.

"Across the park we've got to dominate them in the contact with the tackles and put pressure on their ruck ball."

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