KEY POINTS:
Heavily decorated Springbok Percy Montgomery believes Daniel Carter will relish his time at Perpignan but warns the club will expect a high playing return from their expensive recruit.
Montgomery has just finished his contract at the French club where Carter is heading at the end of the year, and is in Wellington marching steadily towards his 100th test.
The 34-year-old fullback is the sole survivor from the last victorious Springboks team in New Zealand - the 1998 side which won 13-3 at Athletic Park.
Montgomery is in the reserves tomorrow but is likely to be called on later for what will be his 30th Tri-Nations test as he also searches for nine points which will make him the first Springbok to break the 900-point barrier in all matches.
"The change will be good for Dan, it will suit him as a person but they are tough there, they will make him play every game," Montgomery warned. "They won't manage him as well as he is here but he will end up a stronger player for the experience. He is such an allround player anyway but he will be getting a bit stale and this will refresh him."
Montgomery remembers the last time the Springboks won in New Zealand as rough, tough conditions where the wind and a muddy pitch made it a hard slog until Pieter Rossouw scored the winning try. "It was all pretty messy."
The veteran fullback has been bypassed by Conrad Jantjes for this test but will prepare in case he is needed at any stage to cover a variety of positions.
He does not expect to give the Boks a speech rallying them to repeat 1998 but is confident they can duplicate that result tomorrow.
"We all have confidence in the new coach - this is a new era and there has been a big buy-in with the new laws and we have got to adapt or die. New Zealand is a very good team who did not get it right at the World Cup but they are the most consistent team in the world. There is only one team in the world who can beat them and that is South Africa.
"We are traditionally big rivals. We are very physical up front and we had an awesome World Cup and with the young guys we think this is a great opportunity for us to build on."
* For the record
Overall record: Played 72. All Blacks 40, Springboks 29, drawn 3.
In New Zealand: Played 32. AB 23, SA 7, drawn 2.
Points scored: AB 1289, SA 1081.
Tries scored: NZ 135, SA 113.
Last five results: 2007: NZ 33, SA 6 at Christchurch, NZ 26, SA 21 at Durban. 2006: SA 21, NZ 20 at Rustenburg, NZ 45, SA 26 at Pretoria, NZ 35, SA 17 at Wellington.
Most points: NZ, Andrew Mehrtens 209;
SA, Percy Montgomery 97.
Most tries: NZ, Christian Cullen 10; SA Joost van der Westhuizen 6.
Biggest win: NZ, 52-16 at Pretoria, 2003; SA, 17-0 at Durban, 1928.
