Lood de Jager suffers freak injury, in doubt for British and Irish Lions series

Springbok lock Lood de Jager suffered a freak injury while training with his English club Sale Sharks in midweek.

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Afrikaans newspaper Rapport claims the 28-year-old Rugby World Cup winner fractured his femur in a training ground accident after landing awkwardly while going up in the air to catch a ball.

The report claims De Jager is likely to be out for three months, which leaves him in a race against time to be fit for the British & Irish Lions series in South Africa in July.

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Lood de Jager was not included in Sale’s side for their last-16 European Champions Cup clash against Scarlets in Llanelli on Sunday, but no reason was given for his absence.

He only recently recovered from a third surgery to his shoulders after re-aggravating the injury he sustained during the 2019 World Cup final against England during a match at Leicester last season.

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De Jager has played 45 Tests for the Springboks to date.