The Springboks' injury woes took a turn for the worse on Saturday night when X-rays revealed that star flanker Johan Erasmus fractured his ribs in the opening Vodacom Tri-Nations Test against New Zealand at Jade Stadium.

The Springbok management team also announced that experienced lock Mark Andrews and loose forward AJ Venter will be joining the team in Sydney ahead of their clash against Australia at the Olympic Stadium on Saturday.

Andrews and Venter, teammates at the Natal Sharks, are leaving for Sydney on Sunday evening. It's the time that Venter has been called up for national duty and he'll be hoping for a birthday present on Saturday.

Erasmus will join lock Selborne Boome and prop Willie Meyer on a flight back home on Monday evening. Meyer sustained a grade-one concussion in a collision with giant All Black wing Jonah Lomu. He will be out of action for the next three weeks - as will Erasmus - but both should be ready for the return match against the All Blacks on August 19 at Ellis Park.

The loss of Erasmus is a major blow. Even though he was plagued by a hamstring injury, the Cats loosie was still the best South African forward on the field until his departure. Warren Brosnihan, who replaced Erasmus five minutes into the second half, did perform admirably.

The news on Corne Krige, who also sustained a rib injury, was more encouraging. The X-rays done on the fiery openside flanker revealed no damage but, according to a Springbok spokesperson, he would be examined again later this week.

Meyer, who seemed in good spirits on Saturday night, said he attempted to tackle Lomu, but the All Black wing's knee hit him on the ear and he was knocked cold.

"Rassie complained at halftime about a rib injury. I asked him to carry on because he is such a great player, but five minutes after halftime he got a message to me saying the pain is just too much and he couldn't continue. Corne managed to finish the game," Bok coach Nick Mallett said.

The coach admitted he was actually more pleased than disappointed with the Springboks showing, because the team showed improvement from the performance against the Wallabies in the Mandela Challenge.

"I was very keen to look for some progress from our game against Australia and I think the team showed through a lot of phases that we can actually play rugby that is competitive. But we need to seize our opportunities, be fractionally more patient and take better options every now and again.

"After the Test between Australia and New Zealand last week, anything we produced today would have been a slight let down. I was very proud of the way our guys defended. We forced New Zealand to score through kicks ahead as opposed to constructing phases and breaking us down."

The South Africans competed admirably in the possession stakes and controlled the ball for long periods, but couldn't breach the All Blacks defence. "The focus should be on varying the attacking point. Against a very good defence we didn't get the reward, but if we played like that against England, I believe we would have beaten them. So there is progress," the coach said.