The BBC's Greg Barrow reports: "Time has almost stood still on the rugby field"

A special meeting of the union's executive committee decided that from next year all provincial teams entering a prestigious competition must have a minimum of three black members, with at least two on the field at any time.

It will be the first time quotas have been used in top-flight sport in South Africa, and is a sign of Sarfu's frustration at the intransigence of some provincial rugby unions.

The quotas will not be introduced immediately for teams participating in this year's Currie Cup competition to allow clubs who do not have a sufficient complement of black players on their books time to buy new players for next season.

Accelerating change

BBC correspondent Greg Barrow in Johannesburg says the move will be welcomed by black players who have struggled to break into a sport which is still dominated by white South Africans, especially at the senior levels.

He adds that the rugby authorities hope the ruling will accelerate change within the sport and ensure that more black South Africans emerge as national rugby players.

Natal have failed to field black players

The national side, known as the Springboks, is still almost entirely white although a number of black and coloured players have made it to the fringes of the team.

Provincial sides have repeatedly been asked to voluntarily field black players in an effort to break down racial divisions in a sport that was long seen as a white-dominated bastion of apartheid.

But provinces like Natal and Free State have still to pick any black players, even though others have selected as many as six.

Rugby has made some significant moves towards integration with the formation of a single national union from the four racially-divided administrative bodies of old.

Nelson Mandela and happier times for South African rugby

And perhaps the most famous act of reconciliation was Nelson Mandela's gesture of donning the Springbok jersey to watch South Africa take on New Zealand in the 1995 World Cup final.

The act was recently echoed by the country's second post-apartheid president Thabo Mbeki, when he met the national squad and insisted on putting on the Springbok jersey with which he was presented.

But black talent continues to be lost to a sport that is still widely perceived as a white game, at a time when the national side is going through a massive crisis of confidence following three straight Test defeats - two of them by record margins.