De Jager hit with four-match ban as Erasmus pokes fun online

Lood de Jager has been handed a weighty four-match suspension following his red card in the Springboks’ defeat of France at the weekend.

Coach Rassie Erasmus immediately took to the social media platform Instagram to show his lack of amusement, although his post is, ironically, comic.

Erasmus posted the following: “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”

Alexander, the president of the South African Rugby Union, is short in stature.

Erasmus is also referring to the dubious eight-match suspension given to Bulls and Springbok forward Jan-Hendrik Wessels. Wessels was severely punished for an alleged incident in a United Rugby Championship match in which there was no visible evidence.

The 32-year-old De Jager appeared before an independent disciplinary hearing on Tuesday. He had been sent off in the first half of the 32-17 victory after making shoulder-to-head contact with French fullback Thomas Ramos.

Referee Angus Gardner issued a permanent red card after consultation with the TMO.

De Jager will now miss the remainder of the Boks’ tour — there are still Tests to play against Italy, Ireland and Wales — as well as a Japan Rugby League One fixture for his club, the Saitama Wild Knights, in December.

The last match of De Jager’s suspension could be lifted if he agrees to take part in World Rugby’s coaching intervention programme.

De Jager’s suspension is a setback for the Boks, who are under pressure in terms of personnel given they are on a demanding five-match tour. Erasmus would love to have the services of the versatile Wessels as well as line-out specialist De Jager.

The hearing gave this finding:

South Africa No 5 Lood de Jager appeared before an independent disciplinary committee this afternoon via video link having received a red card for an act of foul play contrary to Law 9.16 in the match between France and South Africa on Saturday, 8 November 2025.

The committee was chaired by Jennifer Donovan (Ireland), joined by former referees Val Toma (Romania) and Donal Courtney (Ireland).

The disciplinary committee has upheld the red card issued to the player and, by applying World Rugby’s sanctioning provisions, have determined that the mid-range entry point of six weeks/matches was appropriate.

Mitigating factors were applied by the committee, reducing the six-week entry point by two weeks, thus reducing the final sanction to four weeks/matches.

The suspension will cover the following matches: 15 November 2025: Italy v South Africa 22 November 2025: Ireland v South Africa 29 November 2025: Wales v South Africa 14 December 2025: Wild Knights v Toshiba Brave Lupus

The player has additionally been permitted to apply to take part in World Rugby’s coaching intervention programme to substitute the final match of their sanction, which is aimed at modifying specific techniques and technical issues that contributed to the foul play.