By ROB ROBERTSON EDINBURGH READY TO SWOOP FOR WORCESTER TRIO

EDINBURGH head coach Mike Blair is ready to pounce should British and Irish Lions pair Duhan van der Merwe and Rory Sutherland of Worcester Warriors become available. Blair is also weighing up a move for their team-mate and fellow Scotland international Murray McCallum. All three previously played for the capital side and will become free agents within the next few weeks if Worcester go into administration due to a £6million unpaid tax bill. As Sportsmail revealed last week, the SRU have given the go-ahead for both Edinburgh and Glasgow Warriors to keep tabs on the futures of any players released by the English club. When asked if he was interested in the three players mentioned, Blair replied: ‘Yes. It’s complicated but we’ll let the situation play out. ‘Hopefully, Worcester Warriors get bought out, they resolve things and they are able to continue how they’re going. If the situation changes and players become available, then we’ll have to see how that fits with what we want. ‘Obviously the Worcester situation is ongoing and, once we get clarity on what exactly is happening there, we can have further discussions. ‘At the moment we’re sitting back and waiting for that to play out.’ Blair, whose team play their first United Rugby Championship warm-up match against London Scottish at home on Friday, does not expect Argentine international Emiliano Boffelli to be ready to play for the club again until October. Their league season starts at home to the Dragons on September 16. Winger Boffelli, who can also play full-back, kicked 20 points as Argentina beat the All Blacks on New Zealand soil for the first time at the weekend. The Edinburgh star was in superb form in the 25-18 win in Christchurch. ‘I sent him a crown as a WhatsApp emoji when they beat New Zealand,’ said Blair. ‘He’s been great. We’ve been in touch. ‘I think he’s keen to get back but we’ve got to manage him when he returns to get the best out of him. We will bring him gradually back into the team. We don’t want to burn him out completely by November. ‘His last game is in South Africa, so we’ll be catching up in the next couple of days. He needs some visa stuff done and he needs a little break as well, so we’ll hopefully see him in October.’ Blair says Boffelli’s attacking style has fitted in perfectly with the way he wants his team to play. ‘Boff takes a bit longer to explain stuff to us as English is not his first language, but you learn so much from watching him,’ he said. ‘His high-ball stuff has inspired all our back-three guys. It will be great to have him back — but he’s doing all right where he is at the moment, isn’t he?’