Ixias versatile prop and the Griffons Vodacom Cup Forward Player of the Year for 2013, Danie van der Merwe has been called up to train with the Toyota Cheetahs.
The 24 year old Van der Merwe had a stellar season with the Griffons, but he will be relatively unknown to most followers of Super Rrugby. So who is Danie van der Merwe?
Born in Frankfort, he attended Wilgerivier High School in Frankfort, and then furthered his studies at University of Johannesburg, and then the Central University of Technology in Bloemfontein. He is 1.81m tall and his weight is listed as 125 Kg. His playing career thus far is as follows:
- 2005 – Griffons (Coca Cola Grant Khomo Week u16)
- 2006 – Griffons (Coca Cola Craven Week u18)
- 2007 – Griffons (Coca Cola Craven Week u18, ABSA u19 Competition)
- 2008 – Golden Lions (ABSA u19 Competition, ABSA u21 Competition)
- 2009 – Lions (ABSA u21 Competition)
- 2010 – Xerox Lions (ABSA u21 Competition), Golden Lions (Vodacom Cup)
- 2011 – CUT (FNB Varsity Shield Competition)
- 2012 – CUT (FNB Varsity Shield Competition), Griffons (Vodacom Cup, ABSA Currie Cup First Division)
- 2013 – FNB CUT (FNB Varsity Shield Competition), Griffons (Vodacom Cup, ABSA Currie Cup First Division)
It’s a big step up, and a huge opportunity, but he will have to play out of his socks to oust any of the big names in the Cheetahs squad. Currently they are Coenie Oosthuizen, Trevor Nyakane, Caylib Oosthuizen, Rossouw de Klerk, Nic Schonert, and Maks van Dyk.
The fact that he can play both sides of the scrum will certainly aid his cause, but so can Trevor Nyakane and Coenie Oosthuizen.
Coenie can’t really play both sides……..
@ Loosehead: Lol, I know your view on this, but HM seems to know better.
Better loosehead by a country mile anyway.
Hi Cheetah4eva, do you think vd Merwe is needed, given you have 6 props there that you could use? I know injury played a part for Marcel vd Merwe last season so am hoping he comes good for us Bulls this year but think the ‘swap’ worked better for you guys who got Rossouw de Klerk from us when we got Marcel from you, do you rate de Klerk, thought he was doing quite well at Blue Bulls before he left?
@ Bullscot:Good question Bully, I rate Marcel highly. Mobile and strong, he would have made a devastating combination with Coenie.
GBS doesn’t rate de Klerk, and to be honest I haven’t seen enough to form an opinion.
I actually have no idea how good the Griffons prop is. He is a big unit, but I don’t know if he can oust any of the other props.
Caylib hasn’t impressed, Maks and Schonert were good Junior Bok players, but untested at Super Rugby level.
So we have Nyakane, and Coenie who are known quantities. The rest will have to fight it out. We are going to miss Adriaanse big time.
I hope Rossouw can come good, which will at least give us a good starting duo and a good bench.
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