The Kiwis have finally named their team for Saturday's World Cup semi-final against England, including a switch at halfback and hooker along with four returning players.
Mind games were played earlier in the week between the two sides in the lead-up to the match at Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium, as both England coach Tony Smith and Kiwis opposite Stephen Kearney delayed their team announcements.
Smith released a 19-man squad early on Thursday, which was followed by Kearney's side later in the day.
After resting players in last weekend's dead-rubber win over England, captain Nathan Cayless, Sam Perrett, Sam Rapira and Sika Manu are back in the Kiwis' XVII.
Manu has overcome an eye injury to start in the second row, prop Cayless is reinstated as skipper, Perrett is on the right wing and Rapira will come off the bench.
The most notable switch is Nathan Fien and Thomas Leuluai's swap job which sees Fien given the halfback duties and the under-fire Leuluai moved to hooker.
After an outstanding performance in last weekend's victory over England, Issac Luke earns his spot on the interchange bench. Luke was overlooked for the Kiwis' opening 30-6 loss to Australia.
Due to Steve Matai's absence through injury, Simon Mannering moves one out from the second row into the centres and Bronson Harrison - who was not named in the Kiwis' original 24-man World Cup squad - is named on the bench.
"We've lost Steve (Matai) which is a blow but Simon gives us a great replacement. He's such a reliable player, as we've seen throughout this campaign and again in last week's match against England when he was forced to move to the centres," said Kearney.
"We've had plenty of competition for spots and that makes selection interesting but that's a good place to be in. There were some hard choices to make.
"It's great for the group to see a player like Bronson earning his spot. He came in as a late replacement [for Iosia Soliola] and here is playing in the semi-finals at the World Cup."
Kiwis: 1- Lance Hohaia, 2- Sam Perrett, 3- Simon Mannering, 4- Jerome Ropati, 5- Manu Vatuvei, 6- Benji Marshall, 7- Nathan Fien, 8- Nathan Cayless (captain), 9- Thomas Leuluai, 10- Adam Blair, 11- Sika Manu, 12- David Fa'alogo, 13- Jeremy Smith
Interchange: 14- Issac Luke, 15- Greg Eastwood, 16- Bronson Harrison, 17- Sam Rapira