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Sale statement: De Klerk and de Jager will leave at end of season

(Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images)

Sale have confirmed one of the worst-kept secrets in English rugby – that Springboks World Cup winners Faf de Klerk and Lood de Jager will leave the club at the end of the current season. Scrum-half de Klerk has made 95 appearances for Sharks since joining from South African side Golden Lions ahead of the 2017/18 Premiership season, scoring 14 tries and 39 conversions in his 241 points for the club.

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De Jager, 29, has played 25 times for the club, scoring three tries, since he joined from the Pretoria-based Vodacom Bulls after the 2019 World Cup. Both players played in their country’s third World Cup victory in 2019, with de Klerk starting at scrum-half and de Jager starting in the second row in the match against an England side featuring Sale teammate Tom Curry.

The pair also played key roles for Sharks last season as the club finished third in the Gallagher Premiership and reached the playoffs for the first time in 15 years.

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An injury picked up in the 2021 British and Irish Lions series forced der Klerk to miss the start of the current Premiership season, but since returning to fitness he has made nine appearances, scoring one try in a 26-24 win against Gloucester Rugby at the AJ Bell Stadium.

De Jager, who has played 53 times for South Africa, missed the end of last season after suffering a broken leg in training.

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But after returning to play in the British and Irish Lions series, he carried that momentum into the current season, and his 14 appearances for Sharks – ten in the Premiership and four in the Champions Cup – have helped propel the club into playoff contention once again. The exits of de Jager and de Klerk, though, are yet another example of how the reduced salary cap is biting in the English game.

A Sale statement read: “Everyone at Sale Sharks would like to thank Faf and Lood for their huge contribution to the club over the past five years and we wish them all the very best for the future.”

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1 Comment
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David 941 days ago

Faf and Lood you have done your bit at Sale Sharks.Time to move on to greener pastures

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AM 37 minutes ago
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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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