Lood de Jager Biography

Lood de Jager made his Springbok debut against Wales in 2014. He was born in Alberton on 17 December 1992 and attended Hoërskool Hugenote.

The 28-year-old lock is amongst the tallest locks in world rugby at 2.06 m and can be best described as a brilliant maul defender, with a suprising turn of pace.

Lood de Jager started his career at the NWU Pukke and Leopards U-21's in 2012 where he caught the eye of the Cheetah recruiters. He signed with the Free State side and was included in the Cheetahs squad for the 2013 Super Rugby season.

In May 2014, he was one of eight uncapped players that were called up to a Springbok training camp prior to the 2014 mid-year internationals.

While Lood de Jager sustained various injuries that threatened to derail his career, he managed to cement a place in the Springbok fray and to attend two World Cups since his debut.

In 2015 he became the youngest winner of the SA Rugby Player of the Year award since Bryan Habana received the award in 2005 at the age of 22.

Locally he continued to hone his skills as a lock during the four years he spent with the Cheetahs before joining the Bulls.  But the hard-working second rower's 2018 season was again derailed and cut to just 10 appearances due to injury.

Lood de Jager made a massive impact at the Bulls and spent the bulk of his time there ahead of the 2019 Rugby World Cup and bulked up 22 caps. 

April 2019 saw him sign a three-year deal with Sale Sharks, with him expected to arrive in Manchester ahead of the 19/20 Premiership season after the 2019 Rugby World Cup.

By the time the RWC rolled around, De Jager had already been to one World Cup and had immersed himself in the Springbok set-up. His participation in South Africa's 2019 World Cup- campain was a mere formality.

But the injury ghost again poked it's ugly head as the lanky lock was forced off after dislocating his shoulder in the 22nd minute of the RWC final.

In April 2021, Lood de Jager broke his leg in a freak accident at the Sale training ground, snapping his tibia and tearing the meniscus in his knee off the bone.

Remarkably, he recovered from the injury in three months and took part in the three test series against the British and Irish Lions in 2021. 

In August 2021 De Jager was thrilled to take the field in his 50th game for the Springboks when faced Argentina in the Castle Lager Rugby Championship.