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Lood de Jager in talks with URC side - report
By Ian Cameron
While his exit from Sale Sharks has been viewed as a done deal for some time, the exact destination of Springboks' lock Lood de Jager has proved frustratingly elusive in recent months.
Sale are unable to fit the giant forward in under their £5million salary cap limit - and with the Premiership's two marquee signings shrinking to one after current contracts elapse, De Jager appears to be a luxury Alex Sanderson can no longer afford.
The Alberton-born forward has also had a limited impact on the pitch for the Sharks, with injury restricting him to just 19 appearances over the last two seasons. It's not been an ideal return on what is one of club's biggest stars.
Fellow Bok teammate Eben Etzebeth's signing with the Sharks offered a bit of a clue this week, as it officially ruled out the Durban-based side as a likely location for De Jager, while also raising a question as to why Etzebeth wasn't returning to his alma mater in Cape Town.
Now reports from within South Africa have confirmed that De Jager is in fact in talks with fellow URC newcomers, the Stormers.
The South African report that the 29-year-old is in the early stages of talks with John Dobson's Stormers - but they are happening.
A year ahead of the Rugby World Cup in France, should De Jager move it would put two of South Africa's three first-line secondrows back in the country, leaving RG Snyman to continue his rehabilitation with Munster, where he has extended his current deal to 2024.
De Jager started his career with the Toyota Cheetahs, bursting onto the scene with a remarkable first season. The 6ft 9in powerhouse went on to make 40 Super Rugby appearances for the Bloemfontein-based franchise and was rewarded for his outstanding form in 2015, winning the prestigious SA Rugby Player of the Year award.
The 125kg second-row was quickly earmarked for bigger things by the Springbok hierarchy and was duly selected for the national side in May 2014, at just 21. The experienced line-out operator has now won a total of 53 caps for South Africa.
In 2016 De Jager made the switch from Bloemfontein to Pretoria, signing for the Bulls ahead of the 2017 Super Rugby Season. He has gone on to make 22 appearances for the Bulls and was awarded the captaincy ahead of the 2019 season, before moving to Manchester later that year.
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Latest Comments
We had this conversation a year ago Nick, where I remember showing that throughout 2023 there was a pretty direct correlation between how much England kicked and how well they played. England had two decent performances in the WC kicking everything and defending, and they didn't play that way for the rest of 2023. In fact, England's worst games in 2023 came with Marcus Smith at 10.
A year ago I favoured England building on the gameplan that worked against Argentina and SA, with just minor adjustments. They didn't. They threw it away completely and went to an Irish style attack in the 2024 six nations. That went badly for the first few games, but came good in the end. At the end of the 6N I thought England should build on that gameplan with just minor adjustments. They didn't. They threw it away completely and went over to a Labit/Quins style attack for the rest of 2024 and it has been an unmitigated disaster. I think the personnel England have available are best suited for a return to the Irish style system, with the kick-heavy tactics retained as a backup.
Go to commentsI think you're misunderstanding the fundamentals of how negotiations work, thinking the buyer has all the power. To look at just one rule of negotiation, the party with options has an advantage. I.e. if you are an international 10 with a huge personal brand, you have no shortage of high-paying job opportunities. Counter that to NZR who are not exactly flush with 10s, BB has a lot of leverage in this negotiation. That is just one example; there are other negotiation rules giving BB power, but I won't list them all. Negotiation is a two-way street, and NZR certainly don't hold all the cards.
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