Duhan van der Merwe is on track for his comeback from an ankle injury suffered at the end
of March in Edinburgh’s URC play-off clash against Bulls on Saturday. Image: © Craig Watson –
www.craigwatson.co.uk 
DUHAN VAN DER MERWE will be on the flight out to South Africa which sets off from Edinburgh Airport tomorrow [Tuesday] evening, and is expected to make his comeback for the capital club after nine weeks out with an ankle injury in this weekend’s URC play-off quarter-final against the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld.
This means the big winger should have some valuable game-time to get up to speed and show what he can do ahead of meeting up with the British & Irish Lions squad for this summer’s tour to Australia, and it is a major boost for his club as they look to keep their season alive for at least one more week. If Edinburgh win this match they will face either the Sharks in Durban or Munster in Limerick the following week at the semi-final stage of the play-offs.
“Duhan will be travelling with us,” confirmed Edinburgh head coach Sean Everitt earlier today [Monday]. “He came through training well today, he’s got one more training session to do tomorrow. But as we stand right now, he’ll be on the plane.
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“He’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 [just being there]. We just hope that he pulls through on Tuesday and he can get to his best as soon as possible.”
However, question marks hang over the availability of two senior second-rows, which could leave Edinburgh thin on the ground in that crucial area, meaning Magnus Bradbury could be shifted forward as emergency cover.
“We’re just waiting on Glen Young, who is waiting for his wife to give birth to their third child,” explained Everitt. “We’ve got a flight booked for him on Thursday night. And should all be okay, then hopefully he’ll join us on Friday.”
“Tomorrow, Gilco [Gilchrist] will do his final fitness test [on a hamstring injury which ruled him out of Edinburgh’s home win over Ulster two weekends ago] to see if he’s able to play the game on Saturday. We can’t take a player with us that might not play, so we’ll make a final call at lunchtime on Tuesday.
“We do have backup. If all hell breaks loose at some stage, then we’ll just move Maggie [Bradbury] from No 8 to lock. That will still leave us Jamie Ritchie, Hamish Watson and Ben Muncaster in the back row.
Another area where Edinburgh know they will be stretched is at scrum-half, with Everitt asserting his faith in a 21-year-old academy prospect who is set to make only his second appearances at this level off the bench this coming weekend.
“Ben Vellacott is unavailable [due to a foot injury], and Charlie Sheil isn’t available [because] he suffered a kidney injury in the final minutes of the Ulster game so he’s recovering but won’t play again this season,” explained Everitt. “We’ve got Ali Price and we’ve got young Conor McAlpine, who will be covering us on the bench on the weekend. Conor had a really good runout [for Edinburgh ‘A’] against Black Lion last week, so it’s an exciting time for him. He also did the business for us against Gloucester [when he made his debut for the final 10 minutes of an EPCR pool match at the start of December], so we’re not too concerned about him.”
All things considered, Everitt says he is pretty pleased with how his squad is shaping up for this do-or-die clash at the end of a long-hard season.
“The Bulls are a massive threat up front but what we have at our disposal now, apart from Grant Gilchrist, is the same as what we went with against them the last time [a 34-28 win at the Hive Stadium at the quarter-final stage of the Challenge Cup],” he reasoned.
“We know that it’s going to be a set-piece battle, it always is. Especially at Loftus. And I think we’ll all agree that the effort that we put in that area of the game has been really good over the last six or seven weeks. We’ve mixed it with the best. The Lions were certainly good in that area, as well as the Sharks and Bath. And I thought our performances in those areas were admirable. We’d like to continue on that, even though we are challenged in certain positions.”
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Full injury update:
- Duhan van der Merwe (ankle) – has returned to training.
- Grant Gilchirst (hamstring) – will undergo fitness test ahead of Saturday’s Quarter-Final.
- Ross McCann (foot) – has returned to training.
- Charlie Shiel (kidney) – sustained injury against Ulster. Will not return this season.
- Ben Vellacott (foot) – expected back in mid-July.
- Mosese Tuipulotu (knee) – timeline for recovery still to be determined following successful surgery.
- Paul Hill (back) – continues his rehabilitation. Expected back in mid-July.
- Robert Carmichael (wrist) – continues his rehabilitation and is expected back in June.
- Luke Crosbie (pec) – out until June.
- Connor Boyle (knee) – expected back in September.
- Dave Cherry (knee) – will not return this season.
- Emiliano Boffelli (hamstring) – will not return this season.
- Matt Scott (back) – will not return this season.
- Jamie Hodgson (tricep) – will not return this season
Our Edinburgh-based experts advise both individuals and businesses across a range of sectors, providing accountancy, audit and assurance, business advisory, tax and VAT services. Founded in 1855, Saffery is the 15th largest accountancy firm in the UK by turnover and has had a presence in Edinburgh for over 30 years. Website: www.saffery.com