Van der Merwe stars in Edinburgh victory

MATCH REPORT: Flying Scottish wing Duhan van der Merwe contributed a pair of tries as Edinburgh ran out 34-21 winners over Castres in the EPCR Challenge Cup at Hive Stadium on Saturday.

The 28-year-old, who scored the ninth and 10th tries of his Challenge Cup career, was a thorn in the side of Castres – who had inside centre Andrea Cocagi sent off in the early stages for dangerous foul play.

Fellow wing Wes Goosen, scrumhalf Ali Price and outside centre Matt Currie also crossed for the Scottish outfit, while flyhalf Ben Healy was excellent from the tee with nine points – three conversions and a penalty.

Castres had taken the early lead when wing Antoine Bouzerand intercepted an errant Grant Gilchrist pass to run the length of the field with just one minute on the clock.

Post match vibes 🥳@duhanvdmerwe pic.twitter.com/uAF9b56neO

— Edinburgh Rugby (@EdinburghRugby) December 16, 2023

Replacements Wayan de Benedittis and Leone Nakarawa added second-half tries for the visiting French side, with Pierre Popelin, Geoffrey Palis and Jeremy Fernandez each kicking a conversion.

Edinburgh earned a vital five points from the victory, joining Castres, Black Lion and Clermont in a four-way tie behind Gloucester in Pool 2.

Edinburgh host Gloucester and visit Scarlets in January when the EPCR Challenge Cup returns.

Castres Olympique, meanwhile, host Black Lion before visiting Gloucester in Round 4.

Scorers:

For Edinburg
Tries: Goosen, van der Merwe 2, Price, Currie
Cons: Healy 3
Pen: Healy

For Castres:
Tries: Bouzerand, De Benedittis, Nakarawa
Cons: Popelin, Palis, Fernandez

Teams:

Edinburgh: 15 Harry Paterson, 14 Wes Goosen, 13 Matt Currie, 12 James Lang, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Ben Healy, 9 Ali Price, 8 Viliame Mata, 7 Hamish Watson, 6 Jamie Ritchie, 5 Grant Gilchrist (captain), 4 Glen Young, 3 Javan Sebastian, 2 Ewan Ashman, 1 Pierre Schoeman
Replacements: 16 Dave Cherry, 17 Robin Hislop, 18 D’Arcy Rae, 19 Marshall Sykes, 20 Luke Crosbie, 21 Ben Vellacott, 22 Mark Bennett, 23 Darcy Graham

Castres: 15 Geoffrey Palis, 14 Nathanael Hulleu, 13 Adrien Seguret, 12 Andrea Cocagi, 11 Antoine Bouzerand, 10 Pierre Popelin, 9 Gauthier Doubrere, 8 Abraham Papalii, 7 Baptiste Cope, 6 Mathieu Babillot, 5 Florent Vanverberghe, 4 Gauthier Maravat, 3 Aurelien Azar, 2 Pierre Colonna, 1 Lois Guerois-Galisson
Replacements: 16 Loris Zarantonello, 17 Wayan de Benedittis, 18 Wilfrid Hounkpatin, 19 Leone Nakarawa, 20 Baptiste Delaporte, 21 Jeremy Fernandez, 22 Vilimoni Botitu, 23 Theo Chabouni

Referee: Adam Jones
Assistant referees: Tom Spurrier, Elgan Williams
TMO: Sean Brickell

Source @EPCR