Bok Lood de Jager continues to shine in the Land of the Rising Sun

The towering lock has endured a horrid time with injury since lifting the 2019 Rugby World Cup trophy with the Boks. First, he had a heart condition which almost ruled him out of rugby altogether, then he tore the rotator cuff in his shoulder so badly that one of the muscles left the bone.

But de Jager is all healed up and back to running out for the Wild Knights in Japan. On Saturday, the former Cheetahs star put in a solid 50-minute shift and scored his first try since April for his franchise.

Unfortunately de Jager's try was in a losing cause, as the Wild Knights went down 53-26 to Urayasu D-Rocks, who featured Bok hardman Jasper Wiese at eighthman.

With Eben Etzebeth currently under an injury cloud, Bok boss Rassie Erasmus will be following de Jager's progress closely.

Also in action in Japan was in-form Springbok centre Jesse Kriel, who crossed the whitewash for his fourth try of the season as his Canon Eagles edged Toyota Verblitz 24-20.

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