Double Bok boost for Lions

Springbok winger Edwill van der Merwe makes a welcome return to the Emirates Lions side to face Edinburgh in Saturday’s Vodacom United Rugby Championship match after recovering from an ankle injury that he suffered in the Carling Currie Cup

Van der Merwe is one of two Springboks to bolster the Lions side, with scrumhalf Morne van den Berge returning from the Bok camp to slot in at halfback alongside Kade Wolhuter.

Other changes see JC Pretorius come in for Ruan Venter at flank, the latter who is struggling with a shoulder niggle picked up against Ulster last weekend.

Van der Merwe was thankful to be back.

“Really happy to be back this weekend,” said van der Merwe. “I was fortunate enough to still be in the mix by being in team meetings, so it was good for me to be able to get all the details while I was busy with my rehab.

“A massive thank you to the Lions medical staff who worked hard to get me back onto the field, so I’m grateful to them for the opportunity to play on Saturday.”

Edinburgh ran the Bulls close last week and Lions assistant coach Ricardo Loubscher is wary of how dangerous they are.

“If you look at the back three, they are quite unstructured, so you don’t want to give them too much time and space to have a go at you. Our plan is to really make sure that we take the time and space away. In saying that, we need to be on point on our defense by making sure that we reset quickly by getting our defensive lines organised because they are a dangerous team in broken field,” he warned.

The team plays their final URC home fixture of the year this Saturday. Ivan van Rooyen’s squad will embark on a three-week tour to Wales, Italy and Ireland starting next week.

Emirates Lions: Quan Horn, Rabz Maxwane; Erich Cronje, Rynhardt Jonker, Edwill van der Merwe; Kade Wolhuter, Morne van den Berg; Francke Horn (captain), Jarod Cairns, JC Pretorius, Darrien-Lane Landsberg, Reinard Nothnagel, Asenathi Ntlabakanye, PJ Botha, Juan Schoeman.

Replacements: Franco Marais, Heiko Pohlmann, Conraad van Vuuren, Ruben Schoeman, Renzo du Plessis, Sanele Nohamba, Marius Louw, Henco van Wyk.