 Smit has captained the Springboks 69 times
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South Africa will be without injured captain John Smit for the first Test against Italy in Witbank on Saturday.
The hooker, 32, tore a hamstring in the warm-up for his team's 42-17 win over France, although he did play the first half of that one-off Cape Town Test.
Lock Victor Matfield takes over as captain, Chiliboy Ralepelle deputises at number two while Bandise Maku is called up to the squad as cover.
Smit could return for the second and final Test in East London on 26 June.
Leinster prop CJ van der Linde, who played in the world champions' thrilling 34-31 win over Wales in Cardiff on 5 June, is also recalled to the squad by coach Peter de Villiers.
Lock Danie Rossouw, centres Wynand Olivier and Jaque Fourie are all rested ahead of the Tri-Nations which begins when the Springboks take on New Zealand in Auckland on 10 July.
"Danie has played a lot of rugby in recent weeks and this is an opportunity to give him some recovery time," explained de Villiers.
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"He is the first-choice lock at the moment but are we lucky to have Bakkies Botha available among the three locks that we can consider for the Test.
"Jaque and Wynand have also played a lot of rugby and we are so fortunate to have so many top centres to choose from too."
Flanker Schalk Burger is a minor doubt with an ankle problem he picked up against Les Bleus but is expected to be named in De Villiers' starting XV on Tuesday.
Italy flanker Mauro Bergamasco, meanwhile, has been ruled out of the tour after failing to recover fully from finger surgery.
Coach Nick Mallett has called up Simone Favaro as a replacement.
South Africa squad: CJ van der Linde, Bandise Maku, Bjorn Basson, BJ Botha, Bakkies Botha, Schalk Burger, Juan de Jongh, Jean de Villiers, Jannie du Plessis, Gio Aplon, Bryan Habana, Alistair Hargreaves, Butch James, Ricky Januarie, Ryan Kankowski, Zane Kirchner, Francois Louw, Victor Matfield (captain), Ruan Pienaar, Dewald Potgieter, Chiliboy Ralepelle, Pierre Spies, Gurthrö Steenkamp, Morné Steyn, Flip van der Merwe.
Italy squad: Matias Aguero, Mauro Bergamasco, Marco Bortolami, Martin Castrogiovanni, Lorenzo Cittadini, Carlo Antonio Del Fava, Paul Derbyshire, Quintin Geldenhuys, Leonardo Ghiraldini, Fabio Ongaro, Sergio Parisseis (captain), Salvatore Perugini, Josh Sole, Manoa Vosawai, Alessandro Zanni, Mirco Bergamasco, Riccardo Bocchino, Gonzalo Canale, Craig Gower, Andrea Masi, Luke McLean, Simon Picone, Matteo Pratichetti, Kaine Robertson, Michele Sepe, Tito Tebaldi.
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