mens
United-rugby-championship
Scotland Duhan van der Merwe’s wing injury misfortune returned as he was forced off just 18 minutes after returning for Edinburgh against Lions at the Hive Stadium.
The 31-year-old was declared “fully fit and ready to go” on Thursday after shaking off a recurring ankle problem that has plagued him for the past 18 months.
But after a spirited start in heavy rain, including one run across the pitch where he evaded four would-be players before an attempted clearance went to ground, Van der Merwe was stopped in the 18th.th a minute after the aerial challenge before signaling that he would have to leave.
The winger made a forlorn walk along the touchline before heading to the dressing room for assessment, although his latest setback was not ankle-related.
“Tobacco got a gash on his hand,” Edinburgh head coach Sean Everitt said. “I’m not sure what it is, I haven’t been in to talk to the doctors yet. But we’ll find out in due course. I think he came out after a high ball. I’m not sure what could have happened there.”
Van der Merwe was hoping to prove his fitness and form to give himself a late chance to be included in the Scotland squad on Monday for their Nations Championship Tests against New Zealand, Australia and Japan next month.
Despite the early loss of their returning winger, early leaders URC played down his absence to maintain their winning start with a 31-10 bonus point win.
Edinburgh scored a great try within two minutes of Van der Merwe coming on, releasing Matt Currie down the left flank before the center fed Hector Patterson, then took the return pass on the stroke of half-time to put the hosts ahead.
The impressive Patterson had a hand in each attempt, creating the second with a one-handed pass from the floor to send center Mosese Tuipulotu through the remaining coverage.
The 21-year-old then scored a third and a fourth in a bid to further cement his growing reputation as a Scotland international-in-waiting.
His first, at 50th minute he finished off a great team effort from deep as full-back Piers O’Conor released Geordie Gwynn down the left flank. The winger found replacement Harry Patterson on his inside, who in turn sent Patterson scrambling.
Edinburgh’s bonus point was all the work of Patterson, taking a quick 25m penalty, sprinting past RF Schoeman’s pull and then forcing the entire Lions defense to rush into the right corner for his fifth try in his ninth senior club game.
Patterson rightly took the Man of the Match award to end the week in which he signed a new contract until the end of the 2026-27 season. A call-up to Scotland could come as early as Monday, although Everitt believes he may have to wait a little longer with Ben White, George Horne and Jamie Dobie, the established front three in Gregor Townsend’s squad.
“I’m not sure,” he said. “Are they looking there? Is he ready for Test level? Maybe a few more URC games under his belt. He just has to continue to develop his game, become more consistent in what he does. It’s not easy to get into the national team.
“He’s got to realize that, but I’m sure he’s opening a few eyes with his performances. He got man of the match. He hit very well from the baseline as well as from set-pieces.”
Everitt praised Patterson’s quick thinking for his penalty kick that took the game away from the Lions.
“We want to play fast. We talked about it and we encourage the players to be brave,” he added. “That was probably the turning point of the game. We took away the arm wrestling and put the game in our favor. The forwards also got the upper hand at the end of the game.”
“The Lions have had a tough week (following the tragic death of their lock Hyron Andrews the day before last week’s Champions Cup game in La Rochelle). Lots of emotion at the weekend and obviously putting all that energy into the game. I don’t think they were at their best tonight but we’ll take the five points and keep working on what we need to do.”
Gwynn sealed Edinburgh’s fourth league win from four by finishing a fluent move in the left corner for their fifth try to wrap up a satisfying win.
