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Duhan van der Merwe's Scotland call-up has just become one step closer
By Online Editors
Duhan van der Merwe has taken a step closer to being capped by Scotland after deciding his club career is best served by signing an extension at Edinburgh.
The 24-year-old South African age-grade international made his debut against Cheetahs in November 2017 and will qualify under residency for his adopted country next summer ahead of Scotland’s tour to his homeland.
After scoring 28 tries in 53 appearances so far, the winger is Edinburgh’s current top-try scorer and just four players - Tim Visser (69), Chris Paterson (57), Simon Webster (36) and Derrick Lee (32) - are ahead of him on the club’s all-time scoring list.
Van der Merwe, said: “I’m absolutely delighted to re-sign with the club. It’s clear that big things are happening at Edinburgh. It’s an honour and a privilege to be a part of this club’s journey.”
Coach Richard Cockerill added: “On current form, Duhan is one of the most dangerous attacking players in Europe, so we’re obviously delighted to see him re-sign with the club.
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“At 24, he’s still a young man, and his game is improving all the time. We’re excited to see him continue to score tries for Edinburgh in the seasons to come.”
The winger currently tops both the Guinness PRO14 and European Challenge Cup stats for metres gained (599 and 387), while he has beaten the most defenders (45) and made the most clean breaks (18) after ten rounds of league action.
He scored his 28th try for the club in last Saturday’s Challenge Cup defeat at Bordeaux-Bègles, elevating him to fifth place on the club’s all-time scoring list.
Speaking about his potential to qualify for Scotland and face the Springboks later this year, van der Merwe told RugbyPass last month: “If that was to happen, that would be strange, but it would be an awesome opportunity to show as a player what you’re about after leaving the country.
“I’m looking to play at the highest level possible, otherwise what am I playing for? When that opportunity comes, I’ll grab it with both hands."
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Latest Comments
The boy needs to bulk up if wants to play 10 or 11 to handle those hits, otherwise he could always make a brilliant reserve for the wings if he stays away from the stretcher.
Go to commentsIn another recent article I tried to argue for a few key concept changes for EPCR which I think could light the game up in the North.
First, I can't remember who pointed out the obvious elephant in the room (a SA'n poster?), it's a terrible time to play rugby in the NH, and especially your pinnacle tournament. It's been terrible watching with seemingly all the games I wanted to watch being in the dark, hardly able to see what was going on. The Aviva was the only stadium I saw that had lights that could handle the miserable rain. If the global appeal is there, they could do a lot better having day games.
They other primary idea I thuoght would benefit EPCR most, was more content. The Prem could do with it and the Top14 could do with something more important than their own league, so they aren't under so much pressure to sell games. The quality over quantity approach.
Trim it down to two 16 team EPCR competitions, and introduce a third for playing amongst the T2 sides, or the bottom clubs in each league should simply be working on being better during the EPCR.
Champions Cup is made up of league best 15 teams, + 1, the Challenge Cup winner. Without a reason not to, I'd distribute it evenly based on each leauge, dividing into thirds and rounded up, 6 URC 5 Top14 4 English. Each winner (all four) is #1 rank and I'd have a seeding round or two for the other 12 to determine their own brackets for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. I'd then hold a 6 game pool, home and away, with consecutive of each for those games that involve SA'n teams. Preferrably I'd have a regional thing were all SA'n teams were in the same pool but that's a bit complex for this simple idea.
That pool round further finalises the seeding for knockout round of 16. So #1 pool has essentially duked it out for finals seeding already (better venue planning), and to see who they go up against 16, 15,etc etc. Actually I think I might prefer a single pool round for seeding, and introduce the home and away for Ro16, quarters, and semis (stuffs up venue hire). General idea to produce the most competitive matches possible until the random knockout phase, and fix the random lottery of which two teams get ranked higher after pool play, and also keep the system identical for the Challenge Cup so everthing is succinct. Top T2 side promoted from last year to make 16 in Challenge Cup
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