Springbok De Jager injures shoulder....again
INJURY UPDATE: Springbok star Lood De Jager has been hit hard by a third serious shoulder injury and looks set to miss Sale Sharks’s bid for the Premiership title.
During Sale’s 40-31 defeat of Leicester, the World Cup-winning lock “popped” a shoulder in the second half and will have to have a scan on the injury to establish the extent of the damage and of course decide on a possible timeline for his return.
In 2019 De Jager had to undergo reconstructive surgery on both shoulders. This complicates the current situation and could possibly lead to him having to go under the knife again – of course, this all depends on the severity of the injury.
Due to the previous injury in the World Cup where he damaged his left shoulder just 21 minutes into the final against England in Yokohama, De Jager’s debut for Sale was delayed while he had to go through a rather lengthy recovery period.
Not only is this a problem for Sale’s lineout where he has become the main target but he leaves a big hole in the loose where he’s also made a considerable impact. Sale have now moved up into 2nd place with their win over Leicester but the cost appears to have been pretty high and it’s resulted in Cobus Wiese, who has just joined Sale from the Stormers, debuting on Wednesday against Saracens.
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A small sliver of light for the Sharks is that former Captain Josh Beaumont has now fully recovered from knee surgery and is ready to return. This will definitely enhance their lineout options but the loss of the massive Bok is going to really be felt as they reach the conclusion to the season. The fear is that with next season starting in November De Jager won’t be ready in time and given his history of shoulder problems Sale will be cautious as to when they bring him back.
The Bok behemoth’s shoulder problems started while playing for the Bulls in a Super Rugby match against the Jaguares in 2019 where he missed three months right in the beginning of the season. Needing surgery to repair the damaged shoulder it became a race against time for him to be fit again for the World Cup in Japan.
Just as everyone was celebrating his comeback he went down in the final injuring the other shoulder this time and needing surgery once again to repair the unstable shoulder.
Everyone’s hoping that the latest injury won’t be as serious as the last two.
Source: RugbyPass
