Springbok captain John Smit, Bulls lock Victor Matfield, IRB Player of the Year Schalk Burger and Jaque Fourie, who is in the Cats squad in this year's Super 12, are included.

Meanwhile, French club Agen have released Fijian winger Rupeni CauCaunibuca for the match.

The players will join Wallabies George Gregan, Phil Waugh and Chris Latham plus All Blacks Tana Umaga, Carl Heoft, Andrew Mehrtens and Jerome Kaino in a world-class south team.

Former Springbok captain Morne du Plessis is the manager with Rod MacQueen (Australia) the coach and Ian Jones (New Zealand) his assistant.

''We are delighted to have these world-class players from New Zealand, Australia, Fiji and South Africa in the team,'' said Du Plessis.

We accept that this is a significant sacrifice by their clubs and Super 12 sides, and the players themselves - but such is the nature of this event.

Negotiations are continuing for the release of various Argentinian, Samoan, Fijian and Tongan players to join the squad from their clubs in Europe and Japan.

The IRB is expected to announce the full squads early next week.