The Springboks have named 10 survivors from the World Cup final in their 22 to play the All Blacks in the Tri Nations test in Wellington on Saturday.

The only surprise came in the back row where Joe van Niekerk was handed the No 8 jersey.

South African coach Peter de Villiers said van Niekerk had earned his place on form, edging impressive youngster Ryan Kankowski (who was available after recovering from concussion) and Luke Watson who is in the reserves.

"Joe came back into the Springboks camp after having a brilliant Super 14 and has showed to all of us that he means business. He earned his place here," said de Villiers.

He added that van Niekerk's experience was a factor in a test as important as this.

"Joe captained the South Africa under-19s and under-21s and the Lions. If you look at the spine of this side, there is a great deal of decision-making running down that spine."

As the All Blacks struggle with their back row stock in the absence of Richie McCaw, the Boks have a surplus of talent at the moment.

"The heat is on, the pressure is on all of them. What a wonderful bunch of guys to fall back on," said de Villiers.

South Africa have won their opening three tests of the season against Wales and Italy and are chasing their first win in New Zealand in 10 years.

SOUTH AFRICA: 15 Conrad Jantjes, 14 Odwa Ndungane, 13 Adrian Jacobs, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Butch James, 9 Ricky Januarie, 8 Joe van Niekerk, 7 Juan Smith, 6 Schalk Burger, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 CJ van der Linde, 2 John Smit (captain), 1 Gurthro Steenkamp. Reserves: 16 Bismark du Plessis, 17 Brian Mujati, 18 Andries Bekker, 19 Luke Watson, 20 Bolla Conradie, 21 Francois Steyn, 22 Percy Montgomery.