Duhan van der Merwe relishing chance to come up against brother Akker on return to South Africa

Edinburgh Rugby star Duhan van der Merwe is relishing the opportunity to come up against his older brother on his return to South Africa this weekend.

Akker van der Merwe plays for the Bulls who host Edinburgh at Loftus in Pretoria on Saturday in the United Rugby Championship.

Duhan has won the last two meetings between the pair, with the latest coming back in 2019, and he is hoping for a similar result this time around.

Edinburgh lost 33-31 to Lenster in their opening game of the new campaign last Friday so the Scottish player will be aiming to put that right against the Bulls.

Speaking on Tuesday at the Edinburgh training camp in South Africa, Van der Merwe said: “It’s a massive challenge, personally I was blowing a little bit in altitude today so I’ve got the fear a little bit for Saturday, but we’ve still got another couple of training sessions to get ready.

“It’s a massive opportunity, playing the Bulls at Loftus, it’s a big stadium and they’ll have a lot of fans out. It will be special and the boys are really looking forward to the opportunity.

“It’s always nice for me to come back and play in South Africa, I am able to see my family, which is always special, and obviously to play against my brother.

“He didn’t play against us in Edinburgh last year, so, if selected, it will be good to go up against him.

“I am two-up against him at the moment, played against him in 2019, Edinburgh vs Sale, and he never won that one, so yeah, very cool.

“It’s not really (strange to come up against him), because I don’t really run into his channel and he doesn’t run into my channel, so I just see him on the pitch and make a joke here or there when I see he is tired, obviously, but other than that if we come up against each other then we will see who wins that battle.”