Perenara at scrumhalf for All Blacks, Mo'unga feels "FOMO"

:TJ Perenara will start at scrumhalf in Scott Robertson's first All Blacks team, partnering with pivot Damian McKenzie for Saturday's series-opening test against England in Dunedin.

The 80-test veteran Perenara succeeds Aaron Smith, with the long-serving halfback having retired from test rugby after last year's World Cup final defeat by South Africa.

McKenzie will have the first chance at nailing down the number 10 shirt given up by Richie Mo'unga, who took up a three-year deal in Japan and won the League One championship in a successful first season with Toshiba Brave Lupus.

However, the 30-year-old playmaker is having second thoughts about that commitment after Robertson, his former coach at the Canterbury Crusaders, said he wanted him home.

"I signed for three years with Toshiba and my intentions were, ‘Yep, I'm going do the three years’,” Mo’unga told New Zealand news website Stuff.

"Obviously with ‘Razor’ (Robertson) coming along and saying he'd love to have me back home, it's just given me another opportunity to think about where I'm at with my footy.

“I am loving my time in Japan. It's awesome," he said, though he added the 'fear of missing out', or FOMO, had started to creep in.

"But then for the All Blacks who have just been named, you get a bit of FOMO and you start to wonder what it would be like if you were in the team playing against England this weekend."

Mo'unga won a championship trophy in all seven seasons he played at the Crusaders under Robertson.

In a new-look All Blacks squad, Robertson picked Dalton Papali'i at openside flanker as former skipper Sam Cane recovers from a back problem.

Papali'i starts alongside number eight Ardie Savea, with one-test Waikato Chief Samipeni Finau on the blindside in the Scott