Lood de Jager opens up on severe shoulder injury set to sideline him until 2025

The 31-year-old missed the 2023 Rugby World Cup due to a health concern, and while he was able to return to the rugby pitch with his club, Saitama Wild Knights, in the Japan Rugby League One season, he sustained another setback in the final.

Ahead of the World Cup last year, De Jager was diagnosed with pericarditis, which is inflammation around the lining of the heart, leading to him missing out on the final squad.

He has since overcome the health concern and made a safe return to rugby this year, playing 12 games in Japan.

He was in line for a Springboks recall and was involved with the alignment camps only for a shoulder injury in the victory over Suntory Sungoliath in the final ending his hopes of adding to his 66 Tests caps in 2024.

"I tore one of my rotator cuff muscles in my shoulder, pretty badly, it's off the bone," De Jager told ex-Springboks Jean de Villiers and Schalk Burger on The Verdict show.

"So that tendon has to heal and reattach to the bone, basically.

"Timeline-wise the doctors are saying six to eight months that would put us between December and February â- earliest December. So I will miss all the Test matches for the Springboks this year.

"Hopefully, I will have another crack next year."

De Jager's absence is another blow to the Boks' second-row stocks with Jean Kleyn still sidelined having not played a match since the Rugby World Cup final victory over New Zealand.

Franco Mostert and Eben Etzebeth combined in the engine room in the two Test matches against Ireland in July but the former broke his leg in the second game against the visitors.

This led to a call-up for Ruan Nortje ahead of the Rugby Championship but he also sustained an injury in training with the Boks ahead of their clash against Australia and, after a late RG Snyman withdrawal, Pieter-Steph du Toit was shifted into lock.

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