The Springboks will field the most experienced team in their history for Sunday's opening Pool D match against Wales in Wellington.

The team contains a total of 815 caps - narrowly surpassing the 810 caps of the team that played Australia in Durban in August.

Coach Peter de Villiers recalled captain John Smit, loosehead prop Tendai Mtawarira, loose forward Schalk Burger and full-back Frans Steyn.

Danie Rossouw replaces injured lock Bakkies Botha - unavailable because of an Achilles heel condition - in the five changes to the team that defeated New Zealand 18-5 in Port Elizabeth last month.

De Villiers named five forwards on the bench with Bismarck du Plessis, Gurthrö Steenkamp and Willem Alberts dropping out of the starting line-up while Ulster-based lock Johann Muller could make his first appearance since the third Test against the British & Irish Lions in 2009.

The matchday 22 contains sixteen players who were part of the victorious 2007 squad, with eleven in the starting XV.

South Africa: 15 Frans Steyn, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Schalk Burger, 6 Heinrich Brüssow, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Danie Rossouw, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 John Smit (c), 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements: 16 Bismarck du Plessis, 17 Gurthrö Steenkamp, 18 CJ van der Linde, 19 Johann Muller, 20 Willem Alberts, 21 Francois Hougaard, 22 Butch James.

Date: Sunday, September 11
Kick-off: 20.30 (08.30 GMT)
Venue: Wellington Regional Stadium, Wellington
Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)
Assistant referees: George Clancy (Ireland)), Vinny Munro (New Zealand)
TMO: Matt Goddard (Australia)

Source: Planet Rugby