Australian Schools centre Nick Wilkinson believes his side will be ready to play their best rugby this weekend and are good enough to beat New Zealand Schools in Auckland on Saturday afternoon.

The side beat Samoa Schools and Fiji Schools in the opening two matches of their four-match tour, but were beaten by New Zealand Schools Barbarians in wet conditions on Monday.

“All the games have been really challenging and it’s definitely a step up from the footy that I’m used to. It’s a lot quicker and tougher so it’s been a great experience,” Wilkinson said.

“Early on it was tough because we hadn’t spent a lot of time together but I think we’ve come together nicely as the tour has gone on and are ready to play our best footy against New Zealand.

“This is the highlight of the tour, the game we’ve all been looking forward to and I think everything is starting to click.”

Despite losing to the Barbarians, Wilkinson said the side had taken plenty from their opening three matches and were confident heading into Saturday’s Test.

“We were rattled early on against Fiji. They were a typical Fijian side, they played with lots of flair and smashed us at the breakdown but as the game wore on we hit our strides and put some good footy together,” he said.

“We were disappointing against the Barbarians, it was a real heavy track and the ball was wet and they just adapted to the conditions better then we did and played better field position and that was reflected in the score line.”

Wilkinson, from Cowra in Central West NSW, is in his final year of study at Joeys in Sydney and will join Shute Shield club Randwick in 2017 and study at UNSW.

Despite growing up playing rugby league, he admitted taking part in tomorrow’s match is something he’s dreamed about since he was young.

“I’m excited and a bit nervous to get out there to sing the anthem and face the haka. It’s the kind of thing you dream of as a young kid, so I can’t wait,” he said,

“Last time we beat New Zealand was four years ago at this same ground, so it would be pretty special to get a win, particularly with how things have been going lately. It’s a great chance to show them what Australian rugby is about.”

But Wilkinson is well aware of just how difficult that will be.

“It’s going to be another big step up from the Barbarians game, they’ll be quicker and well drilled and I think the first 15 minutes will be pretty brutal.”

Australian Schools coach Pat Langtry has made just one change to the starting side that played against the Barbarians on Monday, with Wilkinson’s Joeys’ teammate Yirrbi Jaffer-Williams named on the wing.

Jaffer-Williams and Gregory Terrace winger Will Eadie have been two of Australia’s best on tour, alongside Victorian No.8 Sunia Finefeuiaki. Eadie has scored five tries in three matches and Wilkinson said he was confident he would add to that tally tomorrow.

“We need to go through the middle first then try and get the ball out wide to our back three, they’ve got plenty of speed and skill so hopefully we can get them involved.

“But we need to play field position. These Test matches come down to who controls the ball better, so if we can exit well and play the game in their half, the points should come.”

The match will be televised live on Fox Sports from 12:45pm (AEDT) on Saturday.