'We just hope he pulls through - Edinburgh issue Duhan van der Merwe update

Edinburgh’s hopes of springing an upset in Saturday’s URC quarter-final against the Bulls in Pretoria have received a major boost with Duhan van der Merwe poised to return to action after two months on the sidelines.

The Scotland wing has not played since hobbling off with an ankle injury against the Dragons on 28 March and subsequently had surgery on the issue.

Van der Merwe was relieved to be named on 8 May in Andy Farrell’s British and Irish Lions squad to tour Australia and declared he was “not too far away” from a return.

The 29-year-old has missed the club’s last seven matches but assuming he comes through a final training session on Tuesday with no ill effects, he will fly out to Johannesburg with the rest of the Edinburgh squad later that evening.

“Duhan will be travelling with us,” Edinburgh head coach Sean Everitt said on Monday. “He came through training well today, he’s got one more training session to do on Tuesday. But as we stand right now, he’ll be on the plane.

“Duhan’s a world-class player as an international. He will bring a wealth of experience to the team. The team will take a lot of confidence from him [being there].

“We just hope that he pulls through on Tuesday and he can get to his best as soon as possible.”
While Van der Merwe’s likely return is a major fillip, Everitt will make a call on Tuesday on whether another Scotland international, co-captain Grant Gilchrist, has recovered sufficiently from a hamstring injury that has kept the lock out of the last two matches.

“Gilco will do his final fitness test to see if he’s able to play the game on Saturday,” Everitt said. “We can’t take a player with us that might not play, so we’ll make a final call at lunchtime on Tuesday.”

Gilchrist’s fitness adds to the uncertainty around Edinburgh’s second row options, with Glen Young – a possible replacement for Gilchrist in the match-day 23 – waiting for his wife to give birth to their third child.

“There’s a question mark around his availability for the trip to South Africa,” Everitt said. “We’ve got a flight booked for him on Thursday night. Should all be okay, then hopefully he’ll join us on Friday.”

If neither player is able to make it to South Africa, Edinburgh may be forced to deploy number eight Magnus Bradbury in the second row at some stage, with Marshall Sykes and Sam Skinner the likely starters in Gilchrist’s possible absence.

Edinburgh are also down to their fourth choice at scrum-half, with 21-year-old Conor McAlpine, whose senior experience amounts to 10 minutes off the bench against Gloucester in the European Challenge Cup earlier this season, poised to back up Ali Price in Pretoria.

With co-captain Ben Vellacott still out with a foot injury, the club’s other senior nine, Charlie Shiel, suffered a kidney injury late on against Ulster in their final game of the regular URC season and won’t play again this term.

“Conor had a really good run-out against Black Lion [in an A team game] last week, so it’s an exciting time for him,” Everitt added. “He also did the business for us against Gloucester, so we’re not too concerned about him.”