South Africa's ranks were further depleted ahead of Saturday's clash with the All Blacks when injured lock Flip van der Merwe left the squad and loose forward Heinrich Brussow was ruled out of the match.
Van der Merwe injured a rib cartilage in the 39-20 loss to Australia in the Tri-Nations opener last Saturday, while Brussow is suffering from a hamstring strain.
The Springboks squad, already missing more than 20 injured frontline players, was further weakened last week when lock Johann Muller returned to South Africa, also because of a hamstring complaint.
Muller was replaced in the squad by uncapped second row forward Gerhard Mostert but there will be no reinforcement to take Van der Merwe's place with coach Peter de Villiers on Saturday quipping that South Africa had "run out of locks".
Livewire fullback Gio Aplon, who has back and shoulder injuries after falling awkwardly in the defeat to the Wallabies, failed to train in Sydney on Tuesday and is now rated as "doubtful" for Saturday's test in Wellington.
