South Africa coach Peter de Villiers selected an unprecedented 11 non-white players in his 30-man Springbok squad, South African Rugby Union (SARU) officials said.

The world champions' squad will assemble in Bloemfontein on June 1 to prepare for the first of two matches against Wales, followed by a game against Italy in Cape Town.

Although the large non-white presence was a major talking point, De Villiers played down the statistic.

"I don't know how many players of colour we've chosen and I don't care," he said in a news conference. "The squad was picked entirely on merit and every player named deserves his spot."

Three of the 11 are Zimbabweans - winger Tonderai Chavhanga and props Tendai Mtawarira and Brian Mujati. All have qualified through South African residency.

Mujati and Mtawarira, along with Stormers lock Andries Bekker and Sharks winger Odwa Ndungane, are the only uncapped players.

The previous highest number of non-white players in the national team was nine in a 28-man squad (in 2005 and 2007).

De Villiers' predecessor, Jake White, named six non-white players in the 2007 Rugby World Cup squad. Wingers JP Pietersen and Bryan Habana took to the field in the final.

Similarly, former Springbok coach Rudolf Straeuli's 2003 World Cup squad included six non-white players.

Squad

Backs: Gcobani Bobo, Tonderai Chavhanga, Bolla Conradie, Jean de Villiers, Peter Grant, Bryan Habana, Adrian Jacobs, Butch James, Conrad Jantjes, Ricky Januarie, Percy Montgomery, Odwa Ndungane, Ruan Pienaar, Francois Steyn.

Forwards: Andries Bekker, Bakkies Botha, BJ Botha, Bismarck du Plessis, Ryan Kankowski, Victor Matfield, Tendai Mtawarira, Brian Mujati, Danie Rossouw, John Smit (c), Juan Smith, Pierre Spies, Gurthro Steenkamp, CJ van der Linde, Joe van Niekerk, Luke Watson.

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