Duhan van der Merwe to make South Africa return? Sensational rumours emerge around Scotland’s leading try scorer
A report from South African newspaper, Rapport, suggests that the Stormers are in the market for Scotland superstar Duhan van der Merwe amongst others.
South African-born Van der Merwe scored another try last night for Scotland in their win over Fiji to take his tally to 29 in Test rugby – the most in the country’s history, underlining just how dangerous he can be with ball in hand.
The hulking wing currently plies his trade in the United Rugby Championship for Edinburgh but has been linked with a move away from the club, with some possible suitors in France keeping an eye on his situation.
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Well, according to the report, so are the Stormers but the Cape Town side would have to secure third-party funding to get the deal over line. This is mainly because Van der Merwe is not a player of national interest for the Springboks considering his Scottish allegiance. As a result, the Capetonians would have to pay his full salary without the help of SA Rugby.
Busy elsewhere in the market
The Scot is not the only player the Stormers are in the market for with serious talks said to be ongoing with Sharks and Springboks loosehead Ntuthuko Mchunu which were sparked by the doubts around Steven Kitshoff’s future in the game due to a severe neck injury.
Mchunu would be a massive coup for the Stormers who are thin at loosehead and it could be a positive move for the young prop who has Ox Nche to battle with in the Sharks set-up.
The Cape side were in talks with Sanele Nohamba but have now switched their attention to double World Cup winner Cobus Reinach, who is believed to be building a house in the Western Cape to round out his career.
There could well be significant changes at half-back for the Stormers with Paul de Wet set to be a Bulls player next season and Herschel Jantjies believed to be on the shopping list for Reinach’s current club, Montpellier.
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