Smit, Matfield sign up

John Smit and Victor Matfield are among a group of 10 players to be awarded national contracts by the South African Rugby Union that will run until next year's World Cup.

The Springboks captain along with his deputy are joined by Bakkies Botha, Schalk Burger, Fourie du Preez, Jaque Fourie, Bryan Habana, JP Pietersen, Juan Smith and Pierre Spies in a move which seems to all but guarantee their places at the finals in New Zealand.

Nine other players have been handed one-year deals by the SARU.

They are Andries Bekker, Heinrich Brussow, Bismarck du Plessis, Adrian Jacobs, Tendai Mtawarira, Wynand Olivier, Ruan Pienaar, Danie Rossouw and Morne Steyn, while additional players called up will be receive pro-rata payments in line with the contracted group.

As expected, there were no contracts awarded to overseas-based players - the most notable absentees being Munster centre Jean de Villiers and utility-back Frans Steyn, who now plays for Racing Metro 92 in France.

Peter de Villiers' team plays its first Test of 2010 against France at Newlands in June.