"If you look at Ardie Savea in the Wellington team, he's 18 years of age so it just goes to show this competition is throwing up some great young players and it'll be great to see them go head to head."
With a short turnaround following Wednesday's game, Ofa Tu'ungafasi has been named on the bench, with Angus Ta'avao switching to tighthead prop as Pauliasi Manu starts at loosehead.
Pivac said tomorrow night's match would be a big test for his team against a Wellington side who sit on top of the Premiership ladder.
"It's going to be a huge challenge for a number of reasons," he said.
"None bigger I guess than the short turn around but certainly that comes down to our preparation in a short space of time, it's really a mental attitude and the players are aware of that. Other teams have turned around good performances and there's no reason we can't.
"The fact that we're playing at home is big for this team with a lot of young players, they love playing here and so hopefully that will negate the freshness that Wellington will bring to the game but they're a strong side and they have quality players."
Auckland: Charles Piutau, Ben Lam, Malakai Fekitoa, Hadleigh Parkes, Dave Thomas, Gareth Anscombe, Alby Mathewson, Joe Edwards, Sean Polwart, Steven Luatua, Andrew Van der Heijden, Liaki Moli, Angus Ta'avao, Tom McCartney, Pauliasi Manu. Reserves: Nathan Vella, Ofa Tu'ungafasi, Nathan Hughes, Daniel Braid, Auvasa Faleali'i, Simon Hickey, Lolagi Visinia
