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London Irish sign ex-Springboks prop Marcel van der Merwe
By Liam Heagney
Declan Kidney had quickly ramped up preparations for the 2021/22 Gallagher Premiership season at London Irish by unveiling the signing of Marcel van der Merwe, the 30-year-old tighthead who has seven Springboks caps to his name.
It was 2014 when van der Merwe first broke onto the Test scene, coming off the bench against Scotland in an international career that featured just one start, the August 2015 Championship game versus Argentina which turned out to be his last cap.
Having enjoyed successful club stints in his homeland with the Cheetahs and the Bulls, van der Merwe went on to make nearly 100 appearances for French side Toulon before returning to the Bulls and then signing a short-term deal with Ronan O'Gara's La Rochelle that took him through to the end of a season that ended with the disappointment of Champions Cup and Top 14 final defeats to Toulouse.
“I’m very excited. It’s a new chapter in my career," enthused van der Merwe after penning the deal that will now bring him to Irish. “London Irish are a club that is moving in the right direction, so it is an exciting opportunity for me. The timing feels right.
“I have played English teams quite a lot throughout my time in France, so I know what to expect of the league and everything it throws up. I can’t wait to get going with London Irish.”
London Irish boss Kidney added: “Marcel is a key addition to the squad ahead of the start of the 2021/22 season. He will bring great experience and quality to our pack and will complement the existing players we have already got in the forwards.
“We are really pleased that he has decided to join the club and we are looking forward to him joining up with us in August for his pre-season.”
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Latest Comments
Nah, that just needs some more variation. Chip kicks, grubber stabs, all those. Will Jordan showed a pretty good reason why the rush was bad for his link up with BB.
If you have an overlap on a rush defense, they naturally cover out and out and leave a huge gap near the ruck.
It also helps if both teams play the same rules. ARs set the offside line 1m past where the last mans feet were😅
Go to commentsYeah nar, should work for sure. I was just asking why would you do it that way?
It could be achieved by outsourcing all your IP and players to New Zealand, Japan, and America, with a big Super competition between those countries raking it in with all of Australia's best talent to help them at a club level. When there is enough of a following and players coming through internally, and from other international countries (starting out like Australia/without a pro scene), for these high profile clubs to compete without a heavy australian base, then RA could use all the money they'd saved over the decades to turn things around at home and fund 4 super sides of their own that would be good enough to compete.
That sounds like a great model to reset the game in Aus. Take a couple of decades to invest in youth and community networks before trying to become professional again. I just suggest most aussies would be a bit more optimistic they can make it work without the two decades without any pro club rugby bit.
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