Centurion Monty an 'inspiration' for Boks

South Africa v New Zealand: FULLBACK PERCY Montgomery will celebrate his 100th cap when the Springboks face the All Blacks in the Tri-Nations series today.

"Things like this don't come around every day," said Springbok coach Peter de Villiers yesterday.

"For a guy like Percy to have done this 100 times over and not lost his passion or that responsibility towards his country whenever he goes on the field, I think we can learn from him.

"He's a true professional and through his enthusiasm he gives me new expectations of life. He's an inspiration to the team."

Montgomery made his Test debut for South Africa against the British and Irish Lions in 1997 but moved abroad in 2001 as his popularity waned.

In 2004, coach Jake White recalled Montgomery to the Springbok team; they won that year's Tri-Nations series and went on to triumph at the 2007 Rugby World Cup.

New Zealand coach Graham Henry echoed De Villiers's sentiments: "That's a fabulous performance by Monty. We've got a huge amount of respect for him and wish him well."

The fullback's centenary coincides with the Springboks' 75th match against the All Blacks, and the victors today will have made significant strides toward winning the series.

"There's a lot of pressure for this one because it's the pivotal match of the series for us," said Henry. "It's a big game and it's very important for the results of this particular season that we do well on Saturday."

The New Zealand coach made no changes to the team that convincingly dispatched the Wallabies 39-10 in Auckland at the beginning of August, while the Springboks have made four changes to the line-up that scored a 30-28 win over the All Blacks in Dunedin in July.

World cup winner Fourie du Preez replaces Enrico Januarie at scrumhalf for the Springboks.

Pierre Spies will start at number eight, while Joe van Niekerk has fallen out of the match-day squad.

Andries Bekker comes in for the injured Bakkies Botha and the 6ft 10in lock will provide the Springboks with an excellent jumper to complement captain Victor Matfield at the set-piece.

The Zimbabwean-born prop Tendai Mtawarira ("The Beast") earns his fifth cap in his first start against the All Blacks.

New Zealand are one point ahead of Australia in the series but the Wallabies and Springboks each have a game in hand.

Du Preez predicts a kicking duel: "There's always a lot of kicking in a Test against the All Blacks, whatever the conditions. It's always a big tactical battle."

Du Preez (26) said the kicking game had worked particularly well for New Zealand when they defeated Australia 39-10 in Auckland two weeks ago.

"The All Blacks changed their tactics against Australia, with Jimmy Cowan coming in at scrumhalf, and they kicked a lot more. Jimmy and I are the same age and we've been playing against each other since under-19 days, so I know what to expect from him," Du Preez said.

Du Preez, who was prominent in South Africa's World Cup win last year and is widely considered the best scrumhalf in the world, makes his first Test start since those World Cup finals after fracturing his hand at the end of the Super 14 campaign.

Du Preez said South Africa's 30-28 victory in Dunedin last month would be uppermost in the All Blacks' minds.

"The All Blacks are coming out of a two-week gap, so they'll be going full out for revenge."

The New Zealand assistant coach Wayne Smith said, "Our job is to go out there and really play. We've got a pretty new team, and it's a big challenge for us.

"We've just got to get ourselves in the right mindset so that we can go out and play and put it all on the track."

SOUTH AFRICA: P Montgomery; JP Pietersen, A Jacobs, J de Villiers, B Habana; B James, F du Preez; T Mtawarira, B du Plessis, CJ van der Linde; A Bekker, V Matfield; S Burger (capt), J Smith, P Spies. Replacements: A Strauss, B Mujati, D Rossouw, L Watson, E Januarie, F Steyn, C Jantjes.

ALL BLACKS: M Muliaina; R Kahui, C Smith, Ma'a Nonu, S Sivivatu; D Carter, J Cowan; T Woodcock, A Hore, G Somerville; B Thorn, A Williams; J Kaino, R McCaw (capt), R So'oialo. Replacements: K Mealamu, J Afoa, A Boric, A Thomson, P Weepu, S Donald, I Toeava.

Referee: Matt Goddard(Australia).