1
Sale won't see World Cup winner de Jager in action in Manchester until 2020
Lood de Jager, the World Cup-winning Springbok lock, is to facing shoulder surgery that will delay his debut for Sale Sharks for up to four months.
ADVERTISEMENT
De Jager suffered the injury early in the first half of South Africa’s 32-12 win over England in last Saturday’s final in Yokohama.
He will have a scan on Wednesday to confirm the extent of the damage and the surgery that is required to put him on the road to recovery and a new rugby career in the English Premiership.
Sale boss Steve Diamond has assembled a strong South African contingent in his squad headed by World Cup-winning scrum-half Faf de Klerk, and de Jager, one of the Springboks starting locks, is certain to make a major impact in the English game once fit.
Diamond expects de Klerk, plus the England cup final pair Tom Curry and Mark Wilson, to be on duty for the club in their home Heineken Cup pool match versus La Rochelle on November 24.
(Continue reading below…)
He told RugbyPass: “Lood is having a scan Wednesday and we are probably looking at an operation and three to four months out, so we will get him in the spring by the look of things.
“There is an old saying that you don’t miss what you have never had and we know we have a really good player on our hands. It will be great to have him the squad after his recovery.
ADVERTISEMENT
“I won’t be picking Faf, Tom and Mark until our second European game at home to La Rochelle, so they are going to have two weeks off,” added Diamond.
'If you can get a kid who has been a bit troubled and you can get him on the straight and narrow he becomes a very valuable player for you'
– Fascinating insight from Steve Diamond on @SaleSharksRugby, @premrugby, South Africa imports and Manchester
https://t.co/MVtIK0P39i— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) September 14, 2019
“At the La Rochelle game we will be advertising the return of Faf, Tom and Mark and we saw in 2003 the impact of the England win had terms of interest in the sport and we want to build on having someone like Faf because there isn’t anyone in the sport like him.
“In rugby, there isn’t anyone else who can go head to head with Jake Ball and then stand and talk to royalty in the dressing room after the World Cup final wearing a pair of Springbok budgie smugglers!
“We start our European matches away at Glasgow and I now have a squad that can have a dabble in the competition. After nine years of coaching I have managed to get into Europe five times and each time I have got a hiding.
ADVERTISEMENT
Why fans fear the Saracens salary cap saga could negatively impact on England in 2020https://t.co/rjEBO5d73Z
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 5, 2019
“So, fingers crossed we can be competitive in what is our first season of spending up to the salary cap.”
Sale have managed one win out of their first three Premiership games but have picked up losing points against Gloucester and Bristol, an aspect of performance Diamond believes is vital as the season progresses.
They now face Wasps on Friday night at home. Diamond added: “We were competitive right to the end of both of those games and could have won them. Getting a bonus is a little reward but last season we only managed six in total and ended up one point off fourth place.”
WATCH: How Rassie Erasmus was on the cusp of quitting as Springboks coach after a run of average results
Comments on RugbyPass
Lions 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?
2 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.
23 Go to commentsHow did Penny get the gig anyway?
2 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
21 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.
1 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.
13 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.
21 Go to commentsBilly Fulton 🤣🤣🤣🤣 garrrmon not even close
13 Go to commentsDoes the AI take into account refs? hahaha Seriously why not have two on field refs to avoid bias?
23 Go to commentsVern challenging this Blues side might be the edge they need to fulfill their potential. Convincing results from strong D and strong carries are hard to argue against.
1 Go to commentsLove seems to add a strong back field defense with speed to close the gap and tackle to his ability to attack, kick and pass (an accurate long pass). This sets him an edge over some of the other names - JRK in particular. Has to be said that Jordan and Stevenson have also been exposed defensively while Love has yet to face test match intensity. Spoilt for choice.
1 Go to commentsHe’s strung together a few strong seasons, I’d like to see him in the ABs and build some depth along with Reiko and ALB. Levi Aumua hasn’t taken the step we hoped to see but time yet.
2 Go to commentsWhere has our good friend Pecos gone!? Similar place to the Crusaders D, the abyss.
4 Go to commentsNice piece Nick. I haven’t seen much of the brumbies this year so will keep my powder dry on charlie, but clearly has the speed and footwork to be damaging in space. Similar to Samu, I’d worry about the size of our pack if the likes of Mcreight and Cale were in the b/row together. Maybe Cale could play a similar finisher role like Samu did for Rennie’s wallabies. Has Cale leapfrogged wilson in your eyes? He obviously has the lineout, but harry probably better (although not great) in the physical stuff and also has great hands in the loose. You’d have to say mcreight and valetini are shoe-ins at 7/8, so the question becomes who matches best with them at 6 and on the bench. I don’t know if he has a high enough ceiling, but id love to see wright given a shot based on how much bad luck he has had with injuries. He may also fit that no-nonsense graft/work rate irish approach…? If schmidt wants size and a 4/6 tweener then I’d probably pick Uru. On the bench I’d have no idea, Wilson if you want to give valetini a rest, and maybe hanigan/wright/uru as 6 replacements.
21 Go to commentsWho the heck is Billy Fulton?
13 Go to commentsCale has all the potential no doubt. So has Harry Wilson except for his dumb arse coach over the last few years who told him just to run at brick walls all the time. Valentini would be devastating at 6. As he was until some idiot thought oh yeah, move our best player to another position. Not mentioning any flightless or thank you names of course. I very much dislike claiming one player is the saviour, because injuries are so prevalent in the game these days as the players are bigger and faster, so the discussion should be who are at least the best two players in one position. For me it’s Harry Wilson and Cale at 8 at the moment with Valentini or Hooper from the Brumbies at 6. Great options. Seru Uru should be in the reserves too. A game changer.
21 Go to comments