There is news and rumour of the movements of two young South African props with Edinburgh Rugby the common denominator in both.

Firstly, the news: Tight head prop Kyle Whyte is returning from Edinburgh to try and join the Sharks.

Secondly, the rumour: Loose head prop Pierre Schoeman could be moving from the Bulls to join Edinburgh Rugby.

Kyle Whyte to the Sharks:

Tight head prop seems to be a position that the Sharks Super Rugby team seem to be struggling in. Certainly if you consider the absence of Coenie Oosthuizen due to injury and the fact that Thomas du Toit is seemingly still struggling to adapt to being converted from a loose head to a tight head prop then is clear the Sharks could do with some reinforcements in this area.

Kyle Whyte was the first player to be signed on a partnership agreement  when he signed for Edinburgh Rugby and the Watsonians late in the 2016. This was at a time when Edinburgh Rugby were themselves facing a prop injury crises. Tight head star WP Nel was injured as was fellow tight head prop Kevin Bryce, who had made the move from Glasgow Warriors to Edinburgh Rugby, and  had not long been converted from hooker to tight head prop.

Whyte was rushed straight into action as he came off the bench in Edinburgh’s PRO12 match against Ulster on the Friday night (4th November 2016) and at the same time was named on the bench for Watsonians match against Hawick the next day.

The former WP man may have harboured ambitions to play for Scotland as he qualified through heritage through his dad who was born and raised in the Highlands in Inverness. He arrived having played for WP at U19, U20, and at senior Currie Cup levels and would have been a welcome addition at a time Edinburgh were a struggling outfit with Duncan Hodge being the caretaker coach following the early departure from the club of Alan Solomons. Unfortunately though Kyle Whyte didn’t seem to quite make the expected impact at Edinburgh even at a time when they were short of quality tight head props. He has continued to play at Watsonians where he has proved to be a popular team man but a quick glance at Edinburgh Rugby’s squad page for this 2017/18 doesn’t have him listed there.

His move to “persue a contract at the Sharks” was confirmed yesterday by Watsonians  when they announced their team to face Melrose in the BT Cup Semi-final tomorrow.

Here are some highlights of Kyle Whyte in action:

Bull’s Pierre Schoeman rumoured to join Edinburgh Rugby:

In the meantime rumour has grown that the Bull’s loose head prop Pierre Schoeman will be heading in the opposite direction to Kyle Whyte with Schoeman said to be inbound to Edinburgh later this year.

The following is the latest on this from BBC Scotland:

Edinburgh are close to securing the signature of South African prop Pierre Schoeman from the Bulls.

The 23-year-old has been capped at Under-20 level and would join Richard Cockerill’s squad at the end of his Super Rugby commitments.

Schoeman is primarily a loose-head and has started all five of the Bulls’ 2018 Super Rugby fixtures.

Edinburgh have also been linked with Scotland back-row Luke Hamilton, who plays for Cockerill’s former club Leicester Tigers.

However, with Scotland captain John Barclay arriving in the summer, BBC Scotland understands the club has no desire and limited budget to sign further back-rows.

Instead, Cockerill is targeting two new props, the first of which is likely to be Schoeman, who stands just over 6ft tall and weighs 118kg (18st 8lb).

He played for South Africa Under-20 at the 2014 Junior World Championship, during which he came up against his Scottish counterparts.

The prop has spent his entire senior career with the Pretoria-based Bulls.

Edinburgh have suffered a spate of prop injuries this season.

Scotland veteran Al Dickinson, 34, has not played a competitive game in over a year, fellow international loose-head Allan Dell has been out since October, while Scotland’s autumn surprise package, Darryl Marfo, only returned last week from a four-month spell on the sidelines.

WP Nel and Rory Sutherland have also been out injured for chunks of the campaign, with Cockerill forced to recruit several alternatives on short-term contracts and loan deals.