BOKS’ LOOD SKOOT

LOOD de Jager will play no further part on the Springboks’ November tour after the lock copped a four-week ban for his dangerous tackle on Thomas Ramos in last week’s 32-17 win against France in Paris.

The ex-Bulls lock heard during Tuesday’s disciplinary hearing that he will be banned for six weeks.

However, hearing chairperson Jennifer Donovan wysed De Jager showed remorse, asked for forgiveness and has – up until the Paris incident – had a skoon disciplinary record.  

The outcome on De Jager’s suspension forced South Africa to delay their team announcement for Saturday’s Test match against Italy until on Thursday, after coach Rassie Erasmus initially wanted to name his span on Monday.

Although Erasmus agreed after the French win that De Jager deserved to be sent off by referee Angus Gardner, he could not help himself by lashing out sarcastically in an  X (formerly Twitter) post which he has since deleted.

Erasmus posted a video of Bok assistant coach Duane Vermeulen straightening SA Rugby president Mark Alexander’s back while waiting for a flight at an airport.

Along with the video, Erasmus posted: “We not doing too great in the boardrooms currently, feels like the creativity is moving off the field and becoming more important inside the boardroom, anyway in this video you can see Duane lengthening Mr Alexander by 5cm as a possible replacement for Lood.”

Further news out of the Bok camp is that Erasmus will not be flying in a replacement for De Jager, although Stormers captain Salmaan Moerat was named in the standby squad ahead of their November tour.

Bok management feel they have enough cover at lock in their 33-man squad with the likes of Franco Mostert and Pieter-Steph du Toit able to fill in, while Eben Etzebeth, RG Snyman, Jean Kleyn and Ruan Nortje remain the specialist second-rowers in the group.   

Meanwhile, rookie wing Edwill van der Merwe is hoping to crack the nod when Erasmus picks his matchday squad to face Italy in Turin on Saturday.

Van der Merwe said: “My life motto has always been: ‘a marathon, not a sprint’.

“I firmly believe what’s meant for me won’t miss me… the biggest thing for me is to stay prepared and be ready whenever the call comes... ”