The Toyota Cheetahs hooker, Chucky van der Westhuizen, is locked and loaded to play against the All Blacks on Friday evening at the Rugby World Cup in France.

The All Blacks will want to bounce back following their 27-13 defeat to France in the opening round, while the Welwitschias lost 52-8 to Italy last week.

The 28-year-old has been named on Namibia’s bench for the Pool A game in Toulouse and despite his age, he is playing in his third World Cup.

Van der Westhuizen’s Free State teammate, Aranos Coetzee, will start at tighthead, while the former Cheetahs captain, Torsten van Jaarsveld, starts at hooker. Coetzee and Van Jaarsveld are both playing in the World Cup for a third time as well, and it may also be their last.

In addition, the Griquas lock, Johan Retief, will be starting in the second-row for the match against the team from the Land of the Long White Cloud.

Van der Westhuizen, who was the leading try-scorer in the Currie Cup last year, told OFM Sport that a player always wants to face and measure themselves against the All Blacks.

“It's always a difficult one playing against the All Blacks, but it is every young boy's dream,” said Van der Westhuizen.

“They're a quality side and they can't pick a B-team. They can only have 33 players in their squad and all of them are quality players.

“Our only goal and mission is to earn their respect, to make them work for their points and put them under pressure where we can.

“They are here to mean business and we are here to earn their respect. We have our own goals, plans and preparations in place and let’s see if we can execute it to the best of our ability.

“We must take it as a learning curve as it's always nice to measure yourselves against some of the best players in the world.

“I think it's going to be a cracker of a game.”

Friday night’s game in Toulouse kicks off at 21:00.

All Blacks - 15 Beauden Barrett, 14 Caleb Clarke, 13 Anton Lienert-Brown, 12 David Havili, 11 Leicester Fainga’anuku, 10 Damian McKenzie, 9 Cam Roigard, 8 Ardie Savea (captain), 7 Dalton Papali’i, 6 Luke Jacobson, 5 Samuel Whitelock, 4 Brodie Retallick, 3 Nepo Laulala, 2 Samisoni Taukei’aho, 1 Ofa Tu’ungafasi

Replacements - 16 Dane Coles, 17 Ethan de Groot, 18 Fletcher Newell, 19 Scott Barrett, 20 Tupou Vaa’i, 21 Aaron Smith, 22 Richie Mo’unga, 23 Rieko Ioane

Namibia - 15 Cliven Loubser, 14 Gerswin Mouton, 13 Johan Deysel (captain), 12 Le Roux Malan, 11 Divan Rossouw, 10 Tiaan Swanepoel, 9 Damian Stevens, 8 Richard Hardwick, 7 Prince Gaoseb , 6 Wian Conradie, 5 Tjiuee Uanivi, 4 Johan Retief, 3 Johan Coetzee, 2 Torsten van Jaarsveld, 1 Jason Benade

Replacements - 16 Chucky van der Westhuizen, 17 Desiderius Sethie, 18 Haitembu Shifuka, 19 19 PJ Van Lill, 20 Adriaan Booysen, 21 Max Katjijeko, 22 Jacques Theron, 23 JC Greyling

Morgan Piek OFM Sport