Beauden Barrett has been preferred to Damian McKenzie to start the game at first five-eighth, while brother Jordie is playing his first Test since the second Test against South Africa, where he suffered a knee injury.
Jordie said he was pleased with his recovery and felt ready to line out against England with Beauden alongside.
"That's exciting. It's been a long time coming. He gets about his work and I'd like to think we've got a good combination now, that we can trust each other with what we're doing. It's just about getting our guys around the park and putting ourselves in good positions to play the game we want."
He feels ready for the challenge at Twickenham even without recent match play.
"We put ourselves in situations in training that are going to set us up the best we can for what's at stake this weekend.
"It's going to be a step up."
Everything went according to plan for his rehabilitation, and he was grateful it wasn't a long-term injury.
He said the side felt it had grown significantly during the season and gained confidence.
"We're learning each week, and different guys have had opportunities throughout the year and stepped up and grown massively, which is pleasing.
"But we're under no illusion. England, they're growing as well and they're a great side. They are back at home as well and it's a great challenge."
Flanker Sam Cane said the side was surer in its game than it was earlier.
"When we played England last time, we'd only come in. There's a lot of new terminology with the changes in coaching, so we were learning all the time, and through playing Test matches together, working, coaching, and playing relationships, you build trust and an understanding of what works well for this team.
"I look at some of our defence stuff; we've come a long way in our understanding of what we're trying to achieve and how we achieve it.
"And our attack is a lot more fluid than it was back then. That's purely just repetition and trial and error of what works for this team, what doesn't and how we can make tweaks.
"I feel like we've made some big strides."
Cane said this northern tour is one of the toughest they have had during his career, but it was exciting.
"It's to test ourselves out and it's a pretty big one to start."
Barrett added that the team had grown a lot.
"But it's also time that we start putting some performances out there – consistent performances that we're proud of for 80 minutes.
"We can't spend the whole year learning, and it's a great opportunity to test ourselves against some great sides up here, so I feel like we're ready."