Durban - South Africa and New Zealand have suffered two massive blows ahead of the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals losing Frans Steyn and Dan Carter, respectively, to injury.
Steyn has injured his left shoulder in the final few minutes of the Boks victory over Samoa and will return to South Africa for surgery.
Carter is out with a groin injury and it is expected that Collin Slade will take over the No 10 jersey for the hosts.
Blue Bulls fullback Zane Kirchner has been called in as a replacement for Steyn. Kirchner, 27, will join the squad in Wellington on Tuesday morning in preparation for Sunday's quarter-final.
Kirchner has won 14 Springboks caps - the last of them coming against England in November. He was a member of the Boks' World Cup preliminary squad but missed out on initial selection for the Tri-Nations tournament because of injury.
He has since returned to fitness and to Currie Cup action with the Blue Bulls.
"I am bitterly disappointed," said Steyn. "I don't know how the injury happened - it was at a ruck when I was cleaning someone out late in the game. I was enjoying our campaign and the tournament, and to have it ended like this is very disappointing.
"I'd just like to wish the squad all the best for the rest of the tournament."
Steyn scored tries in each of the Springboks' first three matches in the tournament as well as adding two long-range penalties for a haul of 21 points in his second Rugby World Cup.
Four years ago, he became the youngest player to win a Rugby World Cup winners' medal as a 20-year-old in South Africa's victory in France.
Meanwhile, coach Peter de Villiers said that the injuries to wings Bryan Habana and Francois Hougaard fell into the bumps and bruises categories and that the players had been given a clear Saturday and Sunday to recover fully and recharge.
"Now is a new focus for us," he said. "It's now about only one game, the only game that can either take you forward or stop you. We'll sit back and clear our minds and watch the rugby and once Sunday night comes and we know who we're playing, we'll be able to properly focus on the job at hand."
De Villiers added that the first stage of the campaign had been successfully navigated, despite a tough draw: "When we beat Wales in Wellington by one point, we achieved what we had wanted to prove, which is that we can win close games - and we did it again against Samoa. People call it winning ugly, but it's much uglier if you lose those games!
"Our first goal is now achieved. We have got through the pool stage and it was tough. We could've lost games in this pool and been on our way home. But we were in the pool of death and we have scored 166 points and conceded only 24 and come through, so we can be satisfied with that."
