Barbarians coach Robbie Deans loves the attitude and intent he's seeing from Julian Savea this week.

The Wellington wing is likely to start against the All Blacks at Twickenham on Sunday morning.

Deans believes the fact Savea isn't in the All Blacks is a testament to the strength and depth in New Zealand Rugby, not the man himself.

Deans says you have to keep evolving your game and he saw Savea doing that during the Mitre 10 Cup.

"He's still up for it. A lesser man would have said, 'it's all too hard'," Deans said.

"But he's still hungry, he still wants to be involved, still wants to put back and that's great from an All Blacks perspective because it gives them that depth they need."

Deans is unfazed that his option to pick top players from England and France for the Barbarians has been taken out of his hands.

Deans has a 26 man squad which features just one player from Europe for the Baabaas matches against the All Blacks and Tonga.

He said the most important thing is that those who want to be there are there.

"You can only select from those that are available. It's not straightforward, as you know we don't have an aligned calendar so until such time as we have that, it's unlikely to happen."