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'In the last twelve months I've had two shoulder operations, won the World Cup and moved to England - a pretty busy time'
Sale have unleashed some big South African beasts on the Gallagher Premiership this season, but they will all be dwarfed when World Cup-winning lock Lood de Jager – standing at 6ft 9ins and weighing in at 19st 6lbs – makes his long-awaited debut against London Irish at the AJ Bell Stadium on Friday night.
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De Jager has joined a Sale squad specifically built on South African power and helping the giant lock get used to the Manchester weather have been fellow Springbok World Cup winner Faf de Klerk, club captain Jono Ross, Coenie Oosthuizen, Akker van der Merwe, Rohan Janse van Rensburg and the three du Preez brothers Rob, Dan and Jan-Luc.
With four more signings about to be announced by Sale, it looks certain that de Jager will be joined by a third World Cup winner in Vincent Koch, the Saracens tighthead. The deal to bring de Jager to Sale was originally signed last April when he was recovering from surgery to repair the right shoulder he damaged captaining the Bulls against the Jaguares in Super Rugby.
The 27-year-old battled back in time to take his place in the World Cup squad only to seriously damage his left shoulder making a tackle on England No8 Billy Vunipola in the 21st minute of the November final which South Africa won 32-12 in Yokohama.
Despite posting a video of his ‘moving’ shoulder joint as he lay in the medical room of the Yokohama Stadium, he was able to join his Springbok team-mates on the podium to receive his winner’s medal with his left arm in a sling.
He then took part in the post-match celebrations and the subsequent trophy bus tour around South Africa before putting all of his efforts into yet more rehabilitation work which meant a delayed start to his career in England with Sale.
The long period of rehab required mental as well as physical commitment, particularly when facing the same recovery challenge for the second time in less than a year.
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The Rugby Championship is set for a significant revamp next year
De Jager told RugbyPass: “In the last twelve months I have had two shoulder operations, won the World Cup and moved to England, a pretty busy time. There have been lots of ups and downs, a bit of a rollercoaster. Let’s hope the injuries stay away now. I haven’t got another shoulder to injure – just the two.
“It has been worth it and the World Cup win is something I will never forget. They gave me some pretty strong pain killers so I could celebrate the win and the surgery took place after the trophy tour, which was an incredible experience.
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“I will never forget seeing what it meant to so many people and it still gives me goosebumps. I have never seen so many people in my life and Rassie (Erasmus, the Springbok coach) spoke during the tournament that we were doing it for our country.”
De Jager made an immediate impact at Test level, winning the SA Rugby player of the year award in 2015, and his all-round game made him an obvious target for Steve Diamond, the Sale director of rugby who has put together a squad capable of winning the Premiership for the first time since their 2005/06 triumph.
Sale’s lineout has revolved around the excellence and consistency of All Black Bryn Evans, who is second in the Premiership with 56 wins, and now de Jager will offer another target.
With de Jager’s delayed arrival and Josh Beaumont’s serious knee injury affecting the club’s second row options, Sale have been forced to ask the du Preez brothers Jean-Luc and Dan to take on more of the heavy work as well as their natural foraging and tackling.
But now the very large cavalry is arriving. De Jager added: “I have known some of the South African guys for a very long time and it has made the transition for myself and my wife much easier. “We have a great spirit at the club and we have managed to beat Leicester and Gloucester despite guys away or injured. Hopefully, when we get the full strength squad together we can really dominate.
“Bryn puts a lot of work into the lineout and hopefully I can ease the burden on him a bit – we are both passionate about lineouts. The Premiership is becoming the most competitive domestic league in the world and every team has quality right across the pitch.
“I’m really excited about playing my first game for Sale. After my injury, Steve said I could have a couple of weeks off and I took time to recharge the batteries having been in a race against time to be fit for the World Cup.
“Mentally it was very tough and now I’m looking forward to getting stuck in. I spoke to Steve a lot before I signed and we all want to achieve something special over the next couple of years.”
Sale captain Ross goes into Friday night’s game needing just five tackles to bring up 200 for the Premiership season. De Jager is full of admiration, stating: “Jono has been leading from the front on the tackle count and it really inspires the rest of the guys.”
WATCH: Schalk Brits spoke to RugbyPass about his experiences bringing the William Webb Ellis trophy back to South Africa
Comments on RugbyPass
It’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
2 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
27 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
1 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
1 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
2 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to commentsAnd the person responsible for creating a culture of accountability is?
3 Go to commentsMore useless words from Ben Smith -Please get another team to write about. SA really dont need your input, it suck anyway.
264 Go to commentsThis disgraceful episode must result in management and coach team sackings. A new manager with worse results than previous and the coaching staff need to coached. Awful massacre led by donkeys.
1 Go to commentsInteresting article with one glaring mistake. This sentence: “And between the top four nations right now, Ireland, France, South Africa, and New Zealand…” should read: And between the top four nations right now, South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand and France…”. Get it right wistful thinkers, its not that hard.
24 Go to commentsHow did Penny get the gig anyway?
3 Go to commentsNice write up Nick and I would have agreed a week ago. However as you would know Cale & co got absolutely monstered by the Blues back row of Sotutu, Ioane and Papaliti and not all of these 3 are guaranteed a start in the Black jumper. He may need to put some kgs before stepping up, Spring tour? After the week end Joe will be a bit more restless. Will need to pick a mobile tough pack for Wales and hope England does the right thing and bashes the ABs. I like your last paragraph but I would bring Swinton, Hannigan into the 6 role and Bobby V to 8
27 Go to commentsThe Crusaders can still get in to the Play Off’s. The imminent return of outstanding captain Scott Barrett and his All Black team mate Codie Taylor will be a big boost.There are others like Tamaiti Williams too. Two home games coming up. Fellow Crusader fans get there and support these guys. I will be.
2 Go to commentsCant get more Wellington than Proctor.
2 Go to commentsWhy not let the media decide. Like how they choose the head coach. Like most of us we entrust the rugby system to choose. A rugby team includes the coaches. It's collective.
14 Go to commentsHi NIck, I have been very impressed with him and he seems a smart player who can see opportunities which Bobby V _(who must be an international 6_) doesn’t see or have the speed to take advantage of. If he continues to improve and puts on 5kgs then he could be a great 8. He is a bit taller than Keiran Reid at 1.93m and 111 kgs, so his skill set fits his body size and who knows where it will lead. I hope the spate of Achilles tendon issues have been dealt with by the S&C people. It’s been a very long time since Mark Loane and Kefu stood out at 8. The question is will we be able to hold onto him, if he does make it he will be pretty hot property. I disagree with the idea of letting them go to the Northern Hemisphere and then bring them back.
27 Go to commentsBilly Fulton 🤣🤣🤣🤣 garrrmon not even close
14 Go to commentsDoes the AI take into account refs? hahaha Seriously why not have two on field refs to avoid bias?
24 Go to comments