Springbok veteran Percy Montgomery will act as back-up at flyhalf for Saturday's Mandela Tribute Test against Argentina in Johannesburg, should Butch James fall prey to injury.

At a media briefing on Monday, Springbok coach Peter de Villiers explained the rationale behind the selection of only one flyhalf for this weekend's Test between the Boks and the Pumas.

"One shouldn't look at the flyhalf position in isolation. We were not selecting only a flyhalf," De Villiers said, when asked about the axing of Ruaan Pienaar and Frans Steyn from the present squad of 28.

"Percy will never start at flyhalf while I coach, but if we need to (use him) he will be there."

De Villiers felt that Pienaar and Steyn had not played enough rugby at flyhalf recently to have retained them for covering that position.

"If I had the choice I wouldn't have let them go. Being able to do that shows how privileged we are (to have this depth)," De Villiers said.

"It is the most difficult thing for a coach to tell players they haven't been selected, especially in this case where no player has not been up to standard. All 28 fit players in the present squad deserve to be retained, but unfortunately it cannot be done."

De Villiers admitted to having spoken to Pienaar, advising him to make a decision about the position he most prefers.

"We will make suggestions and advise and if a player has preferences, we will consider that. We don't want to force a player into anything so that the fingers are later pointed at us."

De Villiers explained that the Tri-Nations squad remains at 30 players (including the injured Ryan Kankowski and Peter Grant) and that all of them will be considered as long as they are fit.

"It was in the interest of the players themselves that we decided to release them to their unions so that they can get game time. Surely that is better than just holding tackle bags all week," De Villiers explained, justifying his decision to release Pienaar, Steyn, Gurthro Steenkamp and Odwa Ndungane to their unions.

De Villiers maintained that Springbok management had a good relationship with the various unions and that the released players will, where possible, be used in the positions requested by the Springbok management.

"With this more open relationship with the unions we and the players will benefit," De Villiers added.

The Springboks had a training run on Monday afternoon, where after a further two players will be cut from the remaining 24 on Tuesday when the team for Saturday's Test is announced.

365