The President's Council of the South African Rugby Union instructed acting chief executive Andy Marinos and his staff to find ways of arranging a fixture with the New Zealand Maori in the build-up to the Castle Series against the Lions.
The New Zealand Rugby Union had proposed a fixture between the Springboks and the Maori earlier in the year, but the idea was ditched because of a ruling in South Africa preventing the Springboks from playing teams selected with a racial bias.
But at the Annual General Meeting of SARU this week, the President's council accepted a recommendation from the management committee that SARU can accept matches against any team sanctioned by the national governing body of that team.
Originally, the game was penciled in to be played in Soweto in early June. Now Marinos must find a date, venue and funding for the fixture.
There was a time when South Africa's anti-apartheid laws prevented Maori players from joining All Blacks tours to the republic. The Maoris last toured in South Africa in 1994, without meeting the Springboks.
With players of the calibre of Carlos Spencer, Paul Tito, Carl Hayman, Marty Holah, Rua Tipoki and Bruce Reihana all currently playing in Europe, the Maoris have a wealth of talent to call on. In 2005 they famously beat Brian O'Driscoll's Lions and last year won the Pacific Nations Cup, beating Fiji, Tonga, Samoa and Australia A
Springbok coach Peter de Villiers has already arranged one warm-up match ahead of the Test series against the Lions, when a Springbok Squad XV will meet a Namibian Invitation XV ion Windhoek at the end of May.