English champions Leicester Tigers will face the reigning world champions, South Africa, on 6 November in a special fixture to mark the opening of their new 10,000 seater Caterpillar Stand at Welford Road.
The match, subject to RFU approval, will be the Springboks' only game in England during their autumn tour before European Tests against France, Italy and Ireland.
And last season's Heineken Cup runners-up will have two new faces in their squad to throw in against the Boks following the successful signing of Gloucester's England international centre Anthony Allen and Newcastle Falcons' England Under 21 cap forward Geoff Parling.
They will be missing former Blue Bulls stand-off Derrick Hougaard, however, after the South African switched to Saracens a year on from his transfer to the Midlands. Hougaard scored 98 points in 13 games for Tigers last season.
"To bring the world champions to Welford Road is a real coup and a massive honour for the club. It says a lot for our standing in the world game and we are delighted that South Africa are able to fulfill this special occasion," said Leicester Tigers chairman Peter Thom.
"We believe the full redevelopment of Welford Road will make it the biggest and best purpose-built club rugby stadium in Europe and, as shown by our season ticket and corporate hospitality sales for the new season, there is already a tremendous amount of interest in watching top-class fixtures here.
"We look forward to welcoming South Africa's officials, management, players and supporters for another superb occasion at Welford Road."
The new Caterpillar Stand represents phase one of the redevelopment of Welford Road and takes capacity up to 24,000 for the new season. Already more than half of the places in the new stand have been sold for the entire season, and 60 per cent of the stadium is sold out.
"The match will be an ideal preparation for three very tricky Test matches and give the Springboks the chance to have a taste of northern hemisphere conditions once again," said SA Rugby's acting managing director, Andy Marinos..
"It will also give us an opportunity to test out new combinations as we look towards the 2011 Rugby World Cup. Leicester are a powerhouse of European club rugby and can field a host of England and overseas internationals and we'll have our work cut out against them - we couldn't have asked for a more challenging warm-up for the Test matches."
