The Springboks' coach was greeted by cheers as it edged slowly into the stadium confines an hour-and-a-half before the 1600 BST showdown between the last two winners of the Webb Ellis Trophy.
New Zealand followed shortly after with all eyes on Savea, whose hat-trick of tries in the quarter-final rout of France highlighted his speed and power which have led to comparisons with All Black great Jona Lomu.
The way Savea manhandled three French tacklers to score his second try brought back memories of Lomu's demolition of England in 1995 and the 25-year-old has a record-equalling eight in total in this tournament.
Savea boasts the phenomenal record of 38 tries in 39 tests but, tellingly, has yet to get off the mark against the Springboks who have their own matchwinner in Bryan Habana, the winger needing one more score to become the all-time leader at World Cups.
Holders New Zealand, acclaimed this week by South Africa coach Heyneke Meyer as the best-ever team, are favourites to reach a second successive final.
Steve Hansen's side have suffered just three defeats in 52 tests since their 2011 triumph, one of which came at the hands of the Springboks who won 27-25 in Johannesburg last October.
Twickenham is a far cry from lung-busting Ellis Park -- 1,753 metres above sea level -- and the Springboks' overall record against New Zealand since 2010 is far from impressive, with them losing 10 of their 12 meetings.
Richie McCaw will skipper the All Blacks for the 12th time in a World Cup game, surpassing five players on 11 including World Cup-winning captains Martin Johnson and John Smit.
South Africa are unchanged from the side that scraped past Wales with a late try in their quarter-final while New Zealand have been forced into one switch with Joe Moody coming in for injured loosehead prop Wyatt Crockett.
(Editing by Clare Fallon)
