Edinburgh hope to hold on to Van der Merwe

rICHArD COCkErILL has not given up all hope of keeping Scotland international winger Duhan van der Merwe at Edinburgh. reports at the weekend claimed the South African, who qualified for Scotland through the threeyear residency rule in October, had agreed to join Worcester Warriors next season on a salary of £300,000 a year. While Cockerill said he would not comment on speculation involving contracted players, the Englishman made clear he had not thrown in the towel just yet on retaining his services. ‘Like all our players who are out of contract and we want to keep, we are having discussions and we don’t really comment on speculation,’ said the Edinburgh head coach. ‘There is going to be a lot of interest in certain players because they are very good, so at this point there is nothing to report other than we want to keep our best players and we’re doing everything we can to achieve that.’ Cockerill, when asked if he thought a new deal to keep Van der Merwe could be agreed, replied: ‘Yes. Like I say, we are doing that with all our players who are out of contract. We’re in discussions. ‘We’re trying to make everything work to keep our best players at the club, for obvious reasons. There is always going to be speculation, especially around players of that quality.’ Cockerill said the financial crisis brought on by Covid made it tough to negotiate with players over contracts but they were not alone in that. ‘I think all clubs are in the same boat, aren’t they?’ he said. ‘Everyone has got to manage their finances, and, obviously, as a governing body, we are trying to make sure we look after the game as a whole and not just as a professional game.’