Edinburgh head coach Sean Everitt has backed Duhan van der Merwe to bounce back from his underwhelming British & Irish Lions tour and become a better player for club and country.

Scotland’s record try-scorer started all three Tests on the previous Lions expedition to South Africa in 2021 after a prolific first season of international rugby.

But having not played for 11 weeks before this summer’s tour of Australia after an ankle injury suffered in late March, Van der Merwe’s rustiness was evident in his two outings for the Lions against Argentina and Queensland Reds.

He still finished as the tourists’ top try-scorer overall with five in five outings, including a hat-trick against an AUNZ Invitational XV, but never really threatened to muscle past Tommy Freeman and James Lowe, who started the first two Tests, before Scotland team-mate Blair Kinghorn replaced Lowe on the left wing for the third Test.

Fixture

United Rugby Championship

Zebre

Edinburgh

“He would have been disappointed in not getting a Test opportunity,” Everitt said. “Everyone strives to play in a Test match for the Lions so that is disappointing.

“There’s also a lot to learn out of that. You’ve got to take the learnings from when things don’t go your way to become better. And being the true professional that he is and how he’s bounced back from several disappointments over his life and his career, we know that he’ll be back and giving his best for Edinburgh and for Scotland.”

Some of Van der Merwe’s defensive positioning came under scrutiny during his first two outings in the red shirt, with the Lions’ own stats suggesting he missed four of the 15 tackles made on tour, as well as turning over possession five times.

But while he emerged with a 76 per cent gainline success rate in his ball-carrying, Everitt suggested the 30-year-old may have been a victim of Lions head coach Andy Farrell’s preference for those he knew better from his Ireland role.

“He certainly hasn’t shown those [defensive] frailties when playing for Edinburgh or for Scotland,” he said. “I think you’ve got to look at Duhi’s season as a whole and the fact he didn’t play for 11 weeks up until the first game he put his Lions jumper on against Argentina. So, that’s always going to be a tough ask.

“You need a run of games to build your confidence. In saying that, he did score a couple of tries but then you’ve got to also look at it from Andy Farrell’s side. He coaches Ireland and he knows what he’s got around him. Unfortunately, if you look back in history at selections of the Lions, it will always be about the nature of the beast. Maybe if Rassie Erasmus coached the Lions, and South Africans qualified for that team, there would probably be quite a lot in that team too.

“I don’t think it’s anything different, and I think just to be part of that tour is massive anyway. And what a great experience to learn from some of the best coaches in the world, which can only make you a better player.”

The other Edinburgh player selected in the original Lions squad, prop Pierre Schoeman, also failed to make a Test-match 23, but featured in five games including four starts and was widely praised for the attitude and energy he brought to the tour party.

“Everyone’s disappointed because you want to play (Tests) and they’re some of the top competitors in world rugby and they perform well for their country, so you want to put on that red jumper against Australia,” Everitt said. “But Schoey is the type of guy that will take the positives out of that.

“Working together with guys like Andrew Porter and Ellis Genge, he would have learned so much and become a better player now, and that’s good for us.

“Selfishly, you want players to stay with Edinburgh, but when they get that opportunity with Scotland they come back to me as a better player, and likewise with the Lions.

“And I’m hoping that Ashey [Ewan Ashman], Darcy [Graham], Duhan and Pierre come back better players and impart that knowledge that they learned from their fellow players as well as the coaches over there.”

Graham was considered unfortunate to miss out on selection for the initial Lions squad. Having earned a late call-up as a replacement, the prolific wing scored a try on his Lions debut in the final midweek match against First Nations & Pasifika, only to be forced off with an ankle injury just 17 minutes in which curtailed any further involvement in the tour.

It was the latest blow in a series of injury setbacks for the Borderer, who is second on Scotland’s all-time list with 31 tries in 46 Tests, one behind Van der Merwe.

“It’s actually heartbreaking, to be quite honest with you, because I could just imagine the hurt he had, first of all by not being selected after finishing off so strongly in the URC, and then getting the call-up and being probably one of the best players on the field in only 15 minutes,” Everitt said.

“Then your tour comes to an end which was really disappointing for him. But he’s been through a lot of adversity before and he’s got a lot of resilience, so I’m sure that he’ll get over that and want to prove a point again because that’s just the nature of the guy. He just loves being on the field.”

Everitt is optimistic Graham will be back in action by the second round of the URC – Edinburgh host Ulster on October 3 – with their opener away to Zebre a week earlier likely to come slightly too soon.

While Van der Merwe and Schoeman are likely to be available for the start of the league season, Everitt may be without Schoeman’s regular loosehead understudy Boan Venter, who has featured off the bench for South Africa in the first three rounds of The Rugby Championship.

While Venter has dropped out of the 23 for Saturday’s second fixture against the All Blacks in Wellington, he may be retained by Rassie Erasmus for the final two legs of the Springboks’ campaign, which concludes against Argentina on October 4, the same weekend as Edinburgh’s match against Ulster.

“Rassie’s rotating his squad quite a lot at this stage so we’re hopeful, selfishly,” Everitt said.

“But for him to get that experience of playing in the Rugby Championship is going to give us a better player coming back.

“You know, it’s been a dream for him. And when someone achieves their dream, you’ve got to be happy for the player.”

Venter would have qualified to play for Scotland on residency grounds in February, but having opted to answer the call from his native country, may find he is viewed slightly differently by Scottish Rugby officials when they come to consider a renewal of his contract, which expires at the end of this season.

“We haven’t had negotiations around Boan,” Everitt said. “It’s always good to have guys of that quality in your squad. We also have to understand that we’ve got a responsibility to bring the next player through. That doesn’t necessarily mean Boan’s not going to be looked at because we have youngsters in that position and they’ve got a growth period that they need to go through to be able to represent Scotland. But having senior players like that within our squad does help with the development of those youngsters.”

Scotland

USA

As for Everitt’s own future, while negotiations over the South African’s contract – which runs out at the end of the season – have yet to begin, Scottish Rugby’s consultant performance director David Nucifora said last week talks would likely begin in the coming weeks.

Everitt believes he has “unfinished business” at the club, who finished seventh in the URC last season before losing a quarter-final to Bulls, after a 10th-placed finish in his first campaign.

“It’s the life of a coach,” he added. “You know, it works both ways. It’ll be interesting if we’ve had five out of five (wins) after the first five rounds!

“But I’ve enjoyed my time in Edinburgh and I’ve loved working with the players. And I actually enjoy the challenge of us now looking ahead and bringing through the next generation of players as well. So that doesn’t happen overnight. And I suppose, you know, you don’t want to leave unfinished business.”