DUHAN van der Merwe believes he is essentially the same player as he was in his first spell with Edinburgh – but he knows he has come back to a very different team. Although he was only with Worcester for around 15 months, the winger’s time in England coincided with pretty big changes at the capital club; changes which he believes can only be of benefit to his game.
The biggest difference is at the top of the tree, where Mike Blair is head coach now rather than Richard Cockerill, and Van der Merwe is convinced that the far more expansive style adopted by the incumbent is ideally suited to his game. But there have been some significant alterations to the squad too – with alterations to the back three in particular that mean the new arrival believes he is by no means guaranteed a place in the starting line-up.
Since Van der Merwe brought his four-year stint with Edinburgh to an end in the middle of 2021, Emiliano Boffelli, Henry Immelman and Wes Goosen have all been added to the playing roster. Injury has so far prevented Goosen from making his debut, but the other two have made significant contributions to the team’s upturn in fortunes. Factor in Damien Hoyland and Darcy Graham, two back-three players who have played alongside Van der Merwe before, and the competition for places in jerseys 11, 14 and 15 becomes all the hotter.
