Senan Declan Clint van der Merwe (born 2 February 1986) is a South African professional

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...

player, who most recently played with the . His regular position is winger.

Career

Youth and amateur rugby

Van der Merwe represented the side in the 2006 and 2007 editions of the Under-21 Provincial Championship. He then played club rugby for local amateur side Robertson until 2011.

Boland Cavaliers

In 2012, he was included in the squad for the

2012 Vodacom Cup The 2012 Vodacom Cup was played between 10 March and 18 May 2012 and was the 15th edition of this annual domestic cup competition. The Vodacom Cup is played between rugby union teams in South Africa from the Currie Cup Premier and First Divisions, ...

. He made his first class debut by coming on as a late replacement in their first match of the season, a 22–51 defeat to

Western Cape The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020 ...

rivals . After one more appearance off the bench in their next match against the , he made his first senior start against the other team from the

in the competition, the . He also started their next match, a 27–30 defeat to defending champions,

Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish ( masculine) or ( feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines ...

side and scored his first try in a senior match when he dotted down just before half-time. He also featured in the

2012 Currie Cup First Division The 2012 Currie Cup First Division was contested from 30 June to 13 October 2012. The tournament (also known as the Absa Currie Cup First Division for sponsorship reasons) is the second tier of South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competit ...

for a Boland Cavaliers team trying to defend the title they won in 2011; he started their first match of the season against the to make his

Currie Cup The Currie Cup is South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competition, played each winter and spring (June to October), featuring teams representing either entire provinces or substantial regions within provinces. Although it is the premier ...

debut, but suffering a 20–25 defeat to the team from

Port Elizabeth Gqeberha (), formerly Port Elizabeth and colloquially often referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, S ...

. After a further five appearances, he scored his first Currie Cup try against the same opposition in a 19–57 defeat and followed it up with his second a week later in a 33–36 defeat to the . Boland eventually finished sixth to miss out on a semi-final play-off berth, with Van der Merwe making eleven appearances. He played in three of Boland's matches during the

2013 Vodacom Cup The 2013 Vodacom Cup was played between 9 March and 18 May 2013 and was the 16th edition of this annual domestic cup competition. The Vodacom Cup is played between provincial rugby union teams in South Africa from the Currie Cup Premier and First ...

competition and also kept up his knack of scoring against the , but ended on the losing side on all three occasions as his side finished bottom of the Southern Section. They performed slightly better in the

2013 Currie Cup First Division The 2013 Currie Cup First Division was contested from 29 June to 11 October 2013. The tournament (also known as the Absa Currie Cup First Division for sponsorship reasons) is the second tier of South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competiti ...

, finishing fifth and just outside a semi-final spot. Van der Merwe made six starts, played off the bench on two occasions and scored two tries in their 20–7 victory over the in Round Four of the competition. He didn't represent Boland Cavaliers in provincial competition in 2014, but did return in the

2015 Vodacom Cup The 2015 Vodacom Cup was contested from 6 March to 30 May 2015. The tournament was the 18th edition of the Vodacom Cup, an annual domestic South African rugby union competition, and was played between the fourteen provincial teams in South Africa ...

competition, starting their 10–25 defeat to in Caledon in their opening match of the competition.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Van der Merwe, Senan South African rugby union players Living people 1986 births People from Robertson, Western Cape Rugby union wings Boland Cavaliers players Rugby union players from the Western Cape