Edinburgh's Duhan van der Merwe predicts a '˜massive battle' against Glasgow.

Wing Duhan van der Merwe insists that Edinburgh are approaching the festive derby double header with Glasgow keen to show the pendulum is swinging back to the capital after years of dominance by the west.

Edinburgh's Duhan van der Merwe. Picture: Gary Hutchison/SNS

Edinburgh go into Saturday’s BT Murrayfield opener as 1872 Cup holders but sit fifth in their Conference B, while Glasgow sit proudly top of Conference A.

The capital pro team didn’t fare as well as Glasgow during the recent period shorn of their international talent but bounced back to the top their Heineken Champions Cup pool.

The big South Africa-born wing, who wants to play for Scotland when his residency qualification is completed in a couple of years, is confident that local bragging rights can be theirs again.

“Definitely. We have a very strong team,” said the 23-year-old. “They have their strengths and we have our strengths too. You could say they have more depth but we are being well managed so it will be a massive battle.”

Van der Merwe goes into the game fresh from scoring what he described as one of his best tries, finishing off a sweeping move in the last ten minutes to clinch the 21-8 victory at Newcastle Falcons on Sunday which has Edinburgh within touching distance of the Heineken Champions Cup quarter-finals. “I enjoyed it a lot,” he said. “It has been a bit of a dry patch this season for me so getting one against Newcastle at that point was important for us as a team.”

The start to Van der Merwe’s Edinburgh career was delayed by injury but he featured in both of last season’s December double header with Glasgow and is relishing another taste of derby action.

“The boys were chatting about the rivalry and saying wait till the Glasgow game,” recalled Van der Merwe. “In the build up to the game I saw our boys getting hyped up. In the game you could see the boys wanting to go at each other. There are only two teams in the country and you want to prove yourself. It is him or you for the Scotland jersey. The boys really get up for it and I like it.”

More than 15,000 tickets had been sold for Saturday’s game at BT Murrayfield as of yesterday, with hopes that last year’s record crowd of 23,643 can be matched or possibly surpassed.

Edinburgh edged a thriller 18-17 last year despite, having prop Simon Berghan sent off in the first few minutes.

“Beating Glasgow at home with 14 men for almost the whole game after getting a red card so early in the game shows the character that we as a team have got,” said Van der Merwe.

“They were top of their log and, on paper, some people would have said they looked the better side. It was a massive confidence booster.”