All Blacks' rising star Anton Segner ruled out of Rugby's Greatest Rivalry

Segner has undergone minor surgery to wash out an infection in his ankle joint and will return home to continue his recovery. All Blacks coach Dave Rennie confirmed an injury replacement would not be called into the squad at this stage.

Segner made his Test debut against Italy in Wellington in July and has featured prominently during the tour of South Africa, including a standout performance in the 50-19 win over the Bulls in Pretoria.

The All Blacks now turn their attention to the second Test against South Africa in Cape Town, as Rugby's Greatest Rivalry continues this weekend.

Despite the significant number of injuries that have hit the All Blacks on Tour, Rennie is optimistic his squad depth will hold up.

"There are challenges, obviously, trying to play a lot of games in a short period of time," Rennie told the press after the hard-fought 41-35 win over the Lions on Tuesday.

"The last few days have been busy. We were hoping Ofa [Tu'ungafasi] would mean we didn't have to use Xavia today; unfortunately, he was crook [sick]. He's running a little bit of a fever, and we felt it wouldn't be wise to try and play him.

"Now that we're beyond this game, we've got 40-odd players to pick from, so we've got a fair number of fresh bodies heading into the weekend.

"I think four or five of the guys who played tonight will potentially back up or start, but once we get to Test three and Test four, you've got a full week of preparation and plenty of numbers.

"It's the nature of the game; it's our fifth game over here now, playing against big physical men, there's going to be a little bit of carnage in that."