Schalk Burger out of Springboks tour

South Africa have been dealt a major blow after experienced flanker Schalk Burger and rookie centre Juan de Jongh were both ruled out of the Grand Slam tour of Britain and Ireland that starts this week.

Scans revealed that injuries sustained during Saturday's Currie Cup final were worse than initially feared. Burger, capped 63 times for the Springboks, has a broken rib, while the six-capped suffered a hairline fracture to his left ankle.

Centre Adrian Jacobs was named as De Jongh's replacement. Burger's place goes to the Bulls forward Deon Stegmann, bringing the number of uncapped players to seven, while another player from the Pretoria franchise, full-back Zane Kirchner, has also been added to the 30-man list following the withdrawal of scrum-half Ricky Januarie. The world champions begin their tour with a clash against the Irish in Dublin on Saturday, and face Scotland at Murrayfield on 20 November. Coach Peter de Villiers said: "It's a blow to lose players but we've rolled with the punch and already moved on."

Flanker Willem Alberts (calf), hooker Chiliboy Ralepelle (flu) and centre De Villiers all took no part in training yesterday. The spate of injuries means the team announcement for the Test at the Aviva Stadium has now been delayed until Thursday.

Meanwhile, the Barbarians are set to field eight southern hemisphere stars in their Twickenham clash against world champions South Africa on 4 December.

Australian backs James O'Connor, Drew Mitchell, Matt Giteau and Will Genia have been named, along with New Zealand wing Joe Rokocoko and centre Ma'a Nonu.

The All Blacks presence continues up-front through Keven Mealamu and Rodney So'oialo.