If you spot Beauden Barrett yawning on the All Blacks’ bench at Sydney’s ANZ Stadium, it’s not because he’s bored or tired.

Barrett, who has yet to taste defeat in 19 Tests, says there’s a nervous edge in the New Zealand camp ahead of Saturday’s opening Bledisloe Cup Test against the resurgent Wallabies.

And having started all but two of his Tests on the bench, he confesses to feeling especially nervous “warming the pine” and manifests his nerves by yawning.

“So if you see me yawn, it’s not because I’m tired – it’s because I’m nervous,” he told reporters in Auckland on Tuesday.

With All Blacks coach Steve Hansen having shown a preference to start Aaron Cruden at five-eighth and bring Barrett on to make an impact, it might be the same when the team is named on Thursday morning.

But Barrett, 23, says his mental preparation to face the Wallabies will be the same, regardless of being a starter or reserve.

He noted Cruden’s past injuries and that previous incumbent No.10 Dan Carter was already out with a leg fracture.

“So we all have to prepare as if we’re starting,” Barrett said.

“That way, we all know the game plan so we’re ready to go in the first minute or the last minute.”

If he’s a reserve again, he says he’ll keep trying to prove his value to the coaching team while, at the same time, avoiding mistakes by trying to do too much.

“You do want to make an impact so you might get a little bit over-aroused and try a little bit too hard,” he said.

“I guess the great thing about this team is you just have to do your own job and you don’t want to go on there and try to do too much.”

He said the team were “building nicely” to face an Australian outfit who deserved respect after the Super Rugby successes of the Waratahs and Brumbies.

“I can’t wait to see the sea of gold over there in Sydney and taking the field, hopefully.”