South Africa selectors kept faith in the squad that beat the British and Irish Lions when they announced a 23-man squad to play New Zealand in their Tri-Nations opener in Bloemfontein on Saturday week.

The Springboks will also play the All Blacks in Durban a week later and Australia in Cape Town on August 8th before starting the overseas leg of their campaign against the Wallabies in Perth at the end of August.

All but one player in the squad named on Tuesday were involved in the recently completed 2-1 series win over the Lions, with the only new addition being the inclusion of tighthead prop Jannie du Plessis in place of Deon Carstens.

Du Plessis won the last of his seven test caps when he played against England at Twickenham in November of last year.

The Springboks have also included lock Bakkies Botha, whose two-week suspension for charging into a ruck without binding in the second test against the Lions ends this week.

"The core squad that secured the series win in the first two Tests has great potential as a unit and we believe that they have much more to offer," Springbok coach Pieter de Villiers said in a statement.

"That is why we have made sure that we have remained consistent in our selection policy."

South Africa Squad

Forwards: Andries Bekker, Bakkies Botha, Heinrich Brussow, Bismarck du Plessis, Jannie du Plessis, Ryan Kankowski, Victor Matfield, Tendai Mtawarira, Chiliboy Ralepelle, Danie Rossouw, John Smit, Juan Smith, Pierre Spies.

Backs: Jean de Villiers, Fourie du Preez, Jaque Fourie, Bryan Habana, Adrian Jacobs, Ricky Januarie, Ruan Pienaar, J.P. Pietersen, Francois Steyn, Morne Steyn.