Conor Murray and Robbie Henshaw have been ruled out of the rest of Ireland's November internationals, the Irish Rugby Federation announced on Monday.
Murray has not played since June because of a neck injury and although the IRFU said he was "accelerating through his recovery", the scrum-half will not join up with the squad this month.
Ireland face New Zealand in Dublin on Saturday, with All Blacks head coach Steve Hansen saying he expected Murray to return for the match between world rugby's top two teams. In Murray's absence, Connacht's Kieran Marmion will continue to fill-in at No.9.
Centre Henshaw has also been ruled out of Ireland's remaining November fixtures, which concludes at home to the U.S. on Nov. 24.
Henshaw has a hamstring issue and was replaced by Will Addison prior to Ireland's 28-17 win over Argentina on Saturday.