South African's B&I Lions dream in doubt
NEWS: Edinburgh are still waiting to learn the extent of Duhan van der Merwe’s ankle injury and whether it will affect his potential British and Irish Lions involvement later this year.
Scotland’s record try-scorer Van der Merwe has been in a moon boot since limping off early in the United Rugby Championship victory over Dragons last Friday and had a scan on Monday.
Edinburgh head coach Sean Everitt was unwilling to be drawn on the severity of the South African-born wing’s injury, other than to say it is not linked to the ankle issue the South Africa-born 29-year-old played through in the recent Six Nations.
“Duhan went for an MRI today [Monday],” Everitt said.
“We haven’t had the results back. We should know that early this evening.
“He’s in a boot. But we can’t see the damage. A little bit of soreness and swelling this morning and that’s all I can report on.”
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If fit, Van der Merwe, who toured with the Lions in 2021, would be expected to be selected by Andy Farrell when he names his squad on May 8 for this summer’s tour of Australia.
Asked if he had any indication of the severity of the injury and whether it might cast any doubt on his Lions prospects, Everitt said: “I wouldn’t know because, like I say, we’ll get the results for that and then we’ll issue an injury report on those two guys, (Edinburgh and Scotland lock) Marshall Sykes as well, once we’ve received the results back.”
All going to plan, Edinburgh hopes to have two wings in the Lions squad.
While Van der Merwe looks set for a spell on the sidelines, fellow back Darcy Graham has been staking his claim for involvement in the trip Down Under after an injury-disrupted couple of years.
The 27-year-old followed up his recent try-scoring contributions for the national team against Wales and France by returning to club rugby with a man-of-the-match display against Dragons.
“It’s just great to see him getting consistent rugby,” said Everitt. “Unfortunately in that early game in the Six Nations (against Ireland), he got the crack on the head, but he certainly bounced back. He was a thorn in opposition in the Six Nations when he was playing for Scotland after that.
“Once again, we can see the X-factor that he provides to the team and we saw that on Friday night. He’s got an ability to see space and play space and that’s really important against good defences these days.
“At the same time, he’s got the ability to beat people one-on-one. He’s really good to have in our team. I think both wingers at Edinburgh have put their hands up for Lions selection. I’m not the one to say that they should be selected, but they’ve certainly proved themselves up until now.”
