Sale Sharks lose two Springboks

Scrum-half Faf has made 95 appearances for Sharks since joining from South African side Golden Lions ahead of the 2017/18 Premiership season, scoring 14 tries and 39 conversions in his 241 points for the club. 

Lood, 29, has played 25 times for the club, scoring three tries, since he joined from the Pretoria-based Vodacom Bulls after the 2019 World Cup. 

Both players played in their country’s third World Cup victory in 2019, with Faf starting at scrum-half and Lood starting in the second row in the match against an England side featuring Sharks teammate Tom Curry. 

 The pair also played key roles for Sharks last season as the club finished third in the Gallagher Premiership and reached the play-offs for the first time in 15 years. 

An injury picked up in the 2021 British and Irish Lions series forced Faf to miss the start of the current Premiership season, but since returning to fitness he has made nine appearances, scoring one try in a 26-24 win against Gloucester Rugby at the AJ Bell Stadium. 

Lood, who has played 53 times for South Africa, missed the end of last season after suffering a broken leg in training. 

But after returning to play in the British and Irish Lions series, he carried that momentum into the current season, and his 14 appearances for Sharks – ten in the Premiership and four in the Champions Cup – have helped propel the club into play-off contention once again.  

Everyone at Sale Sharks would like to thank Faf and Lood for their huge contribution to the club over the past five years and we wish them all the very best for the future.