Emirates Lions winger Edwill van der Merwe used the Vodacom United Rugby Championship to make his Springbok dreams come true. Now he wants to fight his way back there again.

Everything that Edwill van der Merwe so loves about the Vodacom United Rugby Championship is also everything that the Emirates Lions winger’s career represents.

“I love playing overseas in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship because it brings that kind of underdog feeling out. It brings a different fire out of me as a player,” he says

That feeling of being the underdog is something Van Der Merwe has embraced and used to fuel his rugby ambitions.

“I’ve been disappointed a few times in my life to know how to pick myself up,” he said at the start of this season’s Vodacom United Rugby Championship, when an ankle injury shortly after his stunning Springbok debut sidelined his Test dreams.

It was a cruel blow coming so close after his highest moment.

Dream Bok Debut

In June last year at Twickenham, Van Der Merwe made a dream debut for the Springboks against Wales as he scored a try and walked off as Man of the Match. It was everything he’d grown up hoping for. It was everything he’d spent a few seasons playing for and working through the disappointment of not getting that call-up time and time again.

“In the past I had great hopes to be included in the Springbok call-up, and then the list comes out and your name is not there. It’s disappointing. But you pick yourself up and move forward,” he says of the rollercoaster that is waiting for that first call-up.

As he reflects on the moment he did get that call, Van Der Merwe still laughs at how it happened.

Rugby Honeymoon

“I got married in December and we had a short honeymoon in the Cape. So we decided after the season we’d do a proper honeymoon and we booked tickets to go and watch F1 in Spain and then a week in Rome, because I didn’t even think I’d be in the Bok group because I wasn’t in any of the alignment camps.

“I decided I wasn’t going to break my head about it. Then a week before our honeymoon I received the call-up to join the Boks in Pretoria. My wife could at least watch my first match in the Bok jersey, and I scored a try as well.”

Van Der Merwe brings a unique take on what it’s like to play your first game for the Springboks.

“I had this vision and dream of what it would mean to play for the Springboks, and I’d played it over and over in my head since I was a boy. So much so that when people asked me what it was like to play for the Boks I said I wasn’t even nervous, because I’d been preparing for it since I was a boy. I wanted it for so long, and I’d visualised it in my mind for so long. So when the chance came, I could just play my rugby and be myself on the field.”

This season, Van Der Merwe has been focused on pulling on that green and gold jersey again, and a place in the first Springbok alignment camp has certainly put his dream back on track.

But he’s well aware it will take something special to stand out at the highest level of the game.

Standing Out

“We’re privileged in South Africa to have the talent we have, and every year a new face arrives on the scene. You have to find a way to bring something different to the next guy. Obviously you do the basics of a wing such as being good under the high ball and to finish tries. But what I personally love is to beat defenders, or to give an offload that puts somebody else through the gap.”

And he enjoys every weekend of what the Vodacom United Rugby Championship does to help hone these unique aspects of his game.

“The biggest thing about this competition is to adjust to the different weather conditions you play in overseas. It prepares you to think about other things in the game and adjust to different playing styles. You also play against teams that are loaded with international stars. You play against them every week and it makes you a better player. It’s an absolute privilege to play in this competition. The VURC has the top teams in the world, and the competition is very strong. It forces you to be better every year.”

‘It’s a marathon not a sprint’

It’s been an incredible journey so far for Van Der Merwe, who grew up thinking he’d play 100 matches for the DHL Stormers but who then moved to Johannesburg where he didn’t know a soul to begin a new journey with the Emirates Lions.

As he stood on the hallowed rugby turf of Twickenham about to make his Springbok debut against Wales in June last year, the tattoo on his left bicep right under the green and gold sleave spoke volumes about this journey.

“It’s a marathon not a sprint,” is inked into his skin.

It’s also inked into his heart as he now reaches for another shot at green and gold glory.