Old clubmates will be international foes in Springbok-Scotland Test at Loftus

Edwill van der Merwe, the 30-year-old winger set to earn his sixth Springbok cap against Scotland on Saturday, underlined the global village that rugby has become as he pointed out the background he shared with opposition flyer Kyle Steyn.

The two played together when they were at Maties, said Van der Merwe as he explained that Steyn was part of an explosive Scottish back three that South Africa would need to watch in their Nations Championship contest at Loftus Versfeld.

“They are definitely dangerous players that we have to keep an eye on,” Van der Merwe, who has scored five tries to match his five Springbok appearances, told a press conference on Tuesday.

“I think most of their guys play either for Edinburgh or Glasgow so they have good cohesion and understand each other and have good relationships with each other and know how to play off each other so it’ll be good.

“And Kyle … we’ve also known each other for quite some time so it’ll be good to play against each other on the weekend.”

Bulls fans will remember Steyn clearly after his quick two tries for the Glasgow Warriors in the URC semifinal.

Another player with close Scottish ties is loosehead prop Boan Venter, who played for Edinburgh.

“He knows the guys pretty well so he’ll probably give us a bit more inside info, especially coming tomorrow when we go into our scrum session,” said Duane Vermeulen, the SA Rugby Mobi-Unit coach.

“Obviously he’ll speak to the guys like Tuks [Ntuthuko Mchunu] and our tightheads. He’s definitely biting his lips to play on Saturday and looking forward to that challenge because he knows quite a lot.”

Head coach Rassie Erasmus has made the point a few times in the past few days that the application of the laws meant that catching the high balls was another important source of possession, as well as the fight for scraps if the catch isn’t made.

But the wing had a single job during the aerial battles, said Van der Merwe.

“We get coached to go for the full catch. Obviously with the law it makes it a bit easier for us to get clear access in a fair contest to the ball. And then from there, we implement what coach Tony [Brown] teaches us and hopefully that’s where we can get some energy on the weekend.”

Vermeulen expanded on the need to win the loose ball when the catch wasn’t taken. “The big thing after that is who gets the ball if they miss it and that’s where you’ve got to be really loaded for all those things,” he said, adding the Springboks had lost out to England in a few contests for the scraps.

“We can work a lot harder to achieve that goal and hopefully you get the scraps first.

“This game is now not being played off set phases and the first-phase strikes — it’s all about who can transition the quickest from turnovers.

“It’s a big thing that all the countries and all the teams are working on.”

TimesLIVE