KEY POINTS:
Think quality centres like Frank Bunce and Jason Little _ men who waged some great transtasman battles. Combine them and you have Springbok midfielder Jean de Villiers.
It is a big rap, but De Villiers is an immense talent whose early tournament exit through injury made it even
harder for the Boks to win last year's World Cup.
They did win. And now they have De Villiers back for his first Tri-Nations visit to New Zealand since 2005. On his last trip, he played on the wing in Dunedin, and shoulder and rib problems have prevented him making visits since then.
This time he is back in midfield where he made his test debut alongside tonight's partner Adi Jacobs. In that first game of his, in 2002, you were hardly aware he was on the field before he damaged his knee. De Villiers has suffered regular injuries in the midfield battlezone, more than others perhaps but he is a very rugged customer and extremely skilful.
Which takes us back to the Bunce-Little combo, the power and the finesse, the iron fist in the velvet glove routine. That is De Villiers.
Whether conditions allow him to prosper tonight is questionable. It may be plenty of shoulder to the tackle in the face of charges from Ma'a Nonu or All Black loose forwards and chasing kicks from the Springboks.
But if the weather allows or the Boks really experiment, de Villiers has a range of skills which will have the All Black defences on high alert.
He is a playmaker, a distributor; he can kick, he can break; and he has power and pace to stretch defences. He led the Stormers to a strong finish in the Super 14 and is one of those Springboks who plays with his head up, his radar looking for attacking chances.
He is the computer in the backline, doling out data and also hacking into his rivals' networks. He makes a decent brains' trust with the maturing Butch James at first five-eighths.
"Butch was our unsung hero at the World Cup, he controlled our games and helped us win that final," De Villiers said. "He has continued to show those qualities for Bath. There are not a lot of flyhalves who have the same aura in defence. Then there is his kicking and his distribution.
"He has cleaned up his tackling technique, there is a maturity about his play."
De Villiers may be right but James has also been guilty of enough reckless challenges for him to be cautioned by his provincial and national South African coaches earlier in his career.
In Wellington tonight De Villiers will need to have his tackling technique in tune if Ma'a Nonu or others come down his midfield channel. As tough as it will be, De Villiers believes the All Blacks have finally hit the selection jackpot by picking the 109kg Nonu at second five-eighths. Extraordinarily, tonight's game will be Nonu's first Tri-Nations test.
"I always thought they wasted Nonu a bit on the wing because he has that ability to break the line from first phase," said De Villiers.
"I do think the All Blacks have moved a bit from where they were last year having [Luke] McAlister and [Aaron] Mauger at second five. Now they are going for a more attacking, running second five in Ma'a and it's worked well for them in the first few games. I think he has been outstanding. His ability to break the line from first phase has been immaculate."
