Sale Sharks could lose services of World Cup-winning Bok duo

Sale Sharks director of rugby Alex Sanderson has admitted that World Cup-winning Springbok duo Faf de Klerk and Lood de Jager could leave the club at the end of the season.

Scrumhalf De Klerk is reportedly in high demand at several clubs, while lock De Jager is believed to be heading back to South Africa for family reasons.

Sanderson told The Times that the Premiership's reduced £5 million salary cap would make it difficult for the club to retain the services of especially De Klerk.

"Faf isn't contracted to us next season and that is an ongoing discussion," Sanderson said. "The most difficult thing (about the reduced salary cap) is that you want to keep them all, but you can't. Even if you do want to keep them, you are not going to be offering them as much as a French club or a Japanese club. It has been pretty brutal and it is part of the job.

"Faf hasn't left yet but the reality is that he could get offered £1m from Japan and that is the nature of the game. That challenge of fitting into the salary cap is quite exciting, but it is not numbers on a page - it is someone; s life and aspirations. Players have a finite time in their career and need to get paid market value, or somewhere near, and if we can't deliver that then I cannot control it."

De Klerk, who boasts 36 Test caps for the Boks, joined Sale Sharks in 2017, while 54-Test veteran De Jager arrived in 2019.