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Freak training ground injury leaves Lood de Jager in race against time to face Lions - reports

(Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images)

World Cup-winning Springbok lock Lood de Jager is in a race against time to be fit for the visit by the British and Irish Lions.

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Reports out of England has it that the 28-year-old stalwart fractured his femur in a freak training ground accident with his English club Sale Sharks this past week.

The Sharks made no mention of the injury in their team announcement of the side to face Scarlets in the last sixteen of the European Champions Cup in Llanelli today.

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Big Jim talks to Big Dev:

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Big Jim talks to Big Dev:

The Sharks team includes a host of Springboks and SA players – including Rohan Janse van Rensburg, Ffrancois de Klerk, Dan du Preez, Jean-Luc du Preez, Cobus Wiese, Armand van der Merwe, Coenie Oosthuizen and Robert du Preez.

Sale Director of Rugby Alex Sanderson made six changes to his team, but was not questioned about the injury and neither did the media release reveal the reason behind De Jager’s absence from the matchday squad.

However, Sunday newspaper Rapport reported that De Jager suffered the fracture while he landed, after he went up in the air to catch a ball.

The 45-times capped veteran is likely to be sidelined for three months, leaving him little time to be fit for the arrival of the B&I Lions in July.

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De Jager just recently recovered from his third round of surgery to his shoulders – the latest injury came during a match at Leicester last season.

It was a recurrence of the injury he sustained in the World Cup Final victory over England in November 2019. De Jager’s injury could leave the Boks thin in the second row – with Munster-based lock Rudolph Snyman also in a race against time, following his freak accident in his first match for the Irish province last year, when he injured his knee in a line-out.

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AM 41 minutes ago
'Freelancer' Izaia Perese shows the need for true inclusivity in Australian rugby

That's Cron's job though. Australia has had one of the most penalised scrums in international rugby for a long time. Just look at the scrum win loss percentage and scrum penalties. That is your evidence. AA has been the starter during that period. Pretty simple analysis. That Australia has had a poor scrum for a long time is hardly news. If bell and thor are not on the field they are woeful. So you are just plain wrong. They have very little time for the lions so doing the same old things that dont work is not going to get them there.


Ainsley is better than our next best tighthead options and has been playing well at scrum time for Lyon in the most competitive comp in the world. Superstar player? No. But better than the next best options. So that is a good enough guide. The scrummaging in the Prem is pretty good too so there is Sio's proof. Same analysis for him. Certainly better in both cases than Super, where the brumbies had the worst win loss and scrum pen in Super. Who plays there? Ohh yes... And the level of scrummaging in Super is well below the URC, prem and France with the SA teams out.


Nongorr is truly woeful. He's 130kg and gets shoved about. That just should not be happening at that weight for a specialist prop who has always played rugby cf pone with leauge. He has had enough time to develop at 23. You'd be better off with Pone who is at least good around the field for the moment and sending Nongorr on exchange to France or England to see if they can improve him with better coaching as happened with Skelton and Meafou. He isn't going to develop in time in super if he has it at all.


Latu is a better scrummaging hooker than BPA and Nasser. and he's the best aussie player over the ball at ruck time. McReight's super jackling percentage hasnt converted to international level but latu consistently does it at heniken level, which is similar to test level in the big games. With good coaching at La Rochelle he's much improved though still has the odd shocker. He should start the November games.

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