NEW ZEALAND suffered a double blow before Saturday's first test against South Africa when winger Jeff Wilson and outside-half Andre Mehrtens were injured at training yesterday.

And South Africa were also forced to reshuffle the team which lost the Tri-Nations match in Cape Town on Saturday 29-18, bringing in Danie van Schalkwyk for centre Hennie le Roux who is suffering from bronchitis.

Mehrtens suffered a recurrence of a knee injury, which forced him to miss most of the Super 12 series earlier this year, while Wilson hurt his right ankle.

A knee scan revealed Mehrtens had a torn cartilage. He will definitely miss the first test in Durban, though he hoped to undergo a minor operation and be fit for the second.

Wilson's readiness for the first test was still in doubt.

South Africa team manager Morne du Plessis confirmed that Ie Roux, who had felt ill before South Africa's defeat on Saturday, had been unable to train with the team in Durban yesterday.

Van Schalkwyk, who made his test debut for South Africa against Fiji in Pretoria on July 2nd, will earn his second cap for his country.

The South African selectors dropped four players from the Newlands test line-up when they announced their side for Durban on Monday.

John Allan, Steve Atherton and Joost van der Westhuizen were dropped for performance-related reasons, while full-back James Small was dropped for disciplinary reasons after being seen in a Cape Town nightclub early last Friday morning.

Just over a year after winning the world rugby union crown, the Springboks are reeling from a series of defeats and renewed political image problems.

As if their defeat at the hands of the All Blacks was not enough, South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel has admitted he supported New Zealand.

I am no white South African, Afrikaans-language newspapers reported Manuel telling people in a box at Newlands stadium. "The minister said it's a free country and who he supports is a matter of personal preference." Manuel's press spokeswoman said.

The Springboks thought they had finally shaken off their pariah image when President Nelson Mandela enthusiastically threw his support behind them during the World Cup campaign last year, calling them "our boys" and wearing a Springbok jersey when he handed the Webb Ellis trophy to team captain Francois Pienaar

But this month Pienaar was trying to fend off controversy again after scores of fans waved the old national flag of the apartheid era at a Bloemfontein test against Australia.

The Springbok captain said he supported the flag of Mandela's new South Africa, but added that he would not dictate to fans what flag they should wave.

South African selectors invited fresh controversy by picking hooker Henry Tromp for Saturday's test against New Zealand. Tromp was convicted of assault in 1993 after beating a black employee who later died.

The selectors chose prop Os du Randt again despite his leaving the field last Saturday with suspected concussion. Beeid newspaper reported however that du Randt had left the field because he was "fed up" with the way the game was going.

The All Blacks have beaten the Springboks twice in two meetings since South Africa beat them by the margin of a drop kick in the World Cup final.

Meanwhile, a brave Eastern Province rugby side pushed the touring All Blacks second-string team all the way before an injury time try by full-back Matthew Cooper sealed a thrilling 31-23 win for the visitors at Boet Erasmus Stadium in Port Elizabeth last night.

New Zealand led 20-13 at halftime in a game played in a howling gale and driving rain. Eastern Province were outgunned in the lineouts but their solid scrum and the committed tackling and some driving runs by their back row upset predictions of an easy All Black victory.

The New Zealanders, boasting 10 full internationals were carrying only a slender three-point advantage going into stoppage time when Cooper went over to seal the result.

From a performance riddled with errors, All Black coach John Hart could at least take comfort from the fact that comeback man Jonah Lomu completed the match and will almost certainly be pencilled into Saturday's line up for the first test against South Africa.

Gloucester coaching director Richard Hill has signed former England Under-21 scrum-half Simon Johnson from his old club Bath.