New Zealand will be at full strength when they face South Africa in the opening match of the Tri-Nations competition in Auckland next Saturday.

All Black coach Graham Henry on Friday removed any doubt over the availability of his big guns, including the first-choice centre pairing of Conrad Smith and Ma’a Nonu.

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Henry, in addressing a media conference, said the only minor concern is loose forward Victor Vito, who missed training with a calf strain.

However, he is expected to be available for selection when the team to face the Springboks is named next week.

Smith trained freely alongside other recovering All Blacks in Anthony Boric (who had collided with Keven Mealamu and injured his cheek) and Israel Dagg (who was concussed in the first Test again Welsh last month).

The trio – Smit, Boric and Dagg – all missed New Zealand’s last international, a 29-10 victory over Wales in Hamilton.

Nonu missed all of the June internationals, after rupturing the posterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in Sydney against the Waratahs in the final round of the Super 14.

The 46-Test veteran was not expected to return for the Springboks clash at Eden Park, but it appears that the inside centre will play his first international of 2010.

The All Blacks lost their first two Tri-Nations matches away to the Springboks last year and Henry said it would be important to their competition chances to open with a victory.

“I think we obviously need to start well if we want to win the Tri-Nations, so it’s all ahead of us the next two Saturdays,” he told the media gathering.

“It’s good to start at home rather than playing at altitude in South Africa and that’s helpful. But we know it’s a big task and we’re looking forward to that task.”

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