Melrose get star Scotland winger in professional player draft

Scotland star Duhan Van Der Merwe has been allocated to Melrose via the professional player draft (Pic Ernesto Ryan/Getty Images)Scotland star Duhan Van Der Merwe has been allocated to Melrose via the professional player draft (Pic Ernesto Ryan/Getty Images)
Scotland star Duhan Van Der Merwe has been allocated to Melrose via the professional player draft (Pic Ernesto Ryan/Getty Images)
Ahead of the Scottish Premiership rugby season starting this weekend, it has been announced which Edinburgh Rugby and Glasgow Warriors players have been assigned to Premiership clubs, who could release them for additional game time.

The senior academy and professional player draft saw the following Edinburgh and Glasgow players becoming available to the four top flight Border clubs, depending on professional clubs’ individual plans.

These players are (from Edinburgh Rugby unless stated):

Hawick – Rob Carmichael, Tom Dodd, Darcy Graham, Boan Venter, Mikey Jones, Hector Patterson, Jack Hocking.

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Kelso – Nathan Sweeney, Mosese Tuipulotu, Patrick Harrison, Javan Sebastian, Ben Vellacott, Liam McConnell, Nairn Moncrieff, Isaac Coates.

Melrose – Ross McCann, Glen Young, Magnus Bradbury, Duhan van der Merwe, Harri Morris, Jerry Blyth-Lafferty, Mac Rutherford.

Selkirk – Marshall Sykes, Mark B ennett, Matt Currie, Sam Skinner, Pierre Schoeman, Callum Smyth (Glasgow Warriors), Ollie Blyth-Lafferty, Freddy Douglas.

Edinburgh recently named 23 under-23 players as part of their new senior academy group of players with Glasgow naming 26.

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The expanded set-up allows for the inclusion of later developing players, up to the age of 23, and will further support the ongoing development of homegrown players. The Premiership will offer an opportunity for these players to play regularly, in addition to Glasgow and Edinburgh A games, with fixtures to be announced in due course. Glasgow Warriors players have been allocated to west based clubs whilst Edinburgh Rugby players have been drafted to Edinburgh and Borders based clubs to create alignment between themselves and clubs within their local catchment area.

All pro-academy players have been split evenly across the 12 clubs. A differential of two pro players per Premiership team will be in operation in each game throughout the season to ensure there is a fair balance of pro players being used in games.

The Premiership clubs met with Scottish Rugby, Edinburgh Rugby and Glasgow Warriors in June, at which time these rules were agreed.

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