{"id":135115,"date":"2025-05-27T05:29:15","date_gmt":"2025-05-27T05:29:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/135115\/"},"modified":"2025-05-27T05:29:15","modified_gmt":"2025-05-27T05:29:15","slug":"sean-everitt-delivers-squad-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/135115\/","title":{"rendered":"Sean Everitt delivers squad update"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"DuhanDuhan van der Merwe is on track for his comeback from an ankle injury suffered at the end
\n of March in Edinburgh’s URC play-off clash against Bulls on Saturday. Image: \u00a9 Craig Watson –
\nwww.craigwatson.co.uk <\/a> <\/a> <\/a> <\/a> <\/a> <\/a> <\/a> <\/a><\/p>\n

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\u2019s URC play-off quarter-final against the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuhan will be travelling with us,\u201d confirmed Edinburgh head coach Sean Everitt<\/strong> earlier today [Monday]. \u201cHe came through training well today, he\u2019s got one more training session to do tomorrow. But as we stand right now, he\u2019ll be on the plane.<\/p>\n

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\u201cHe\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

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<\/strong> could be shifted forward as emergency cover.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re just waiting on Glen Young<\/strong>, who is waiting for his wife to give birth to their third child,\u201d explained Everitt. \u201cWe\u2019ve got a flight booked for him on Thursday night. And should all be okay, then hopefully he\u2019ll join us on Friday.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTomorrow, Gilco [Gilchrist] will do his final fitness test [on a hamstring injury which ruled him out of Edinburgh\u2019s home win over Ulster two weekends ago<\/a>] to see if he\u2019s able to play the game on Saturday. We can\u2019t take a player with us that might not play, so we\u2019ll make a final call at lunchtime on\u00a0 Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do have backup. If all hell breaks loose at some stage, then we\u2019ll just move Maggie [Bradbury] from No 8 to lock. That will still leave us Jamie Ritchie, Hamish Watson<\/strong> and Ben Muncaster<\/strong> in the back row.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cBen Vellacott<\/strong> is unavailable [due to a foot injury], and Charlie Sheil<\/strong> isn\u2019t available [because] he suffered a kidney injury in the final minutes of the Ulster game so he\u2019s recovering but won\u2019t play again this season,\u201d explained Everitt. \u201cWe\u2019ve got Ali Price<\/strong> and we\u2019ve got young Conor McAlpine<\/strong>, who will be covering us on the bench on the weekend. Conor had a really good runout [for Edinburgh \u2018A\u2019] against Black Lion last week, so it\u2019s 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\u2019re not too concerned about him.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 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<\/a>],\u201d he reasoned.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that it\u2019s going to be a set-piece battle, it always is. Especially at Loftus. And I think we\u2019ll 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\u2019ve 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\u2019d like to continue on that, even though we are challenged in certain positions.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Full injury update:<\/p>\n