With British and Irish Lions coach Ian McGeechan a keen observer, South Africa's Tri-Nations campaign returns to home soil with a match against New Zealand in Cape Town on Saturday. And leading up to arguably his most important game so far as South African coach, de Villiers has dropped attacking full-back Conrad Jantjes and Carisbrook hero Ricky Januarie.

While a fit Fourie du Preez is arguably the best scrum-half in the game, de Villiers' decision to replace the silky skills of Jantjes with the experience of 99-Test veteran Percy Montgomery seems to be a bit flawed.

Montgomery brings an extra goal-kicking option to the side, but that seems superfluous, given that Butch James is in the most accurate form of his life. And with "Monty" halfway through his 35th year and starting to show the effects of 99 internationals, the All Black defence will much rather see him join the backline than the rapier-quick Jantjes.

De Villiers' tinkering hasn't gone down well among fans, which won't upset McGeechan and his fellow coaches, as it's always easier to beat an unsettled side. De Villiers' critics are attacking from two sides - those who say the removal of Jantjes and Januarie is a "whitening down" of the side, and those who says he's removing his two most effective attacking players from the match.

With two home matches against Australia coming up, de Villiers has a royal chance of securing the Tri-Nations trophy at his first attempt. But if "Monty" and du Preez are below par and the All Blacks triumph, the first of thousands of questions will be asked ahead of next year's eagerly awaited arrival of the Lions.

For his part, All Blacks coach Graham Henry has named an unchanged XV to reward the players who saved his job against Australia a fortnight ago.

The big win over the Wallabies in Auckland would have rung a few alarm bells in South Africa, but even the most diehard All Black fan would admit the performance was the exception of late, rather than the norm.

The improvement in New Zealand's execution of their attacking game-plan seemed to come down to three simple things: they slowed things down, avoiding the embarrassing handling mistakes of late; their lineout actually worked for a change, and skipper Richie McCaw was back. That's all it took to turn a 34-19 loss into a 39-10 drubbing in the space of seven days.

Newlands hasn't been awarded a Lions Test next year, which isn't surprising, considering South Africa's decidedly average record at the venue. In eight games against the All Blacks there, they've lost five, and have also fallen to the Lions (four times), Australia (three times) and France at the Cape Town ground.

McGeechan's men will play there in a mid-week fixture, though - against the Emerging Springboks on June 23, before the second Test in Pretoria.