Duhan van der Merwe may not play again for Edinburgh Rugby this season after it was revealed that the Scotland winger has undergone surgery on an ankle injury. A key player for both club and country, Van der Merwe picked up the knock in the early stages of a win over Dragons at the end of March and has not been seen since. He left the Hive Stadium that night in a moon boot and it has now been confirmed that the 29-year-old, who signed a new contract with the capital side earlier this year, has since required an operation. His club coach Sean Everitt believes the prolific try-scorer could be back towards the end of May - although Edinburgh's campaign could well be over by then. In a battle to reach the top eight of the United Rugby Championships and qualify for the play-offs, they have three more regular-season matches against Zebre on Saturday, Connacht on May 10 and Ulster on May 16. There is also an EPCR Challenge Cup semi-final at home to Bath on May 3. Progress in either competition is likely to be required for Van der Merwe to feature before the 2024/25 term closes. The news of surgery should not cast a doubt over his inclusion in the British and Irish Lions squad for the summer tour of Australia, according to Everitt. Their head coach Andy Farrell is due to name his players on May 8 at an event in London. Van der Merwe was a key member of the last Lions team, playing in all three Test matches against South Africa in 2021. "He's responding well to his rehab," said Everitt in the wake of Edinburgh's loss to the Sharks on Friday night in the URC. "Obviously, he's only two weeks post-operation. So, yeah, we're looking at him being available later in May. And I'm sure everyone else is waiting for him to return to the field to see if he can obviously be available for the Lions, which he will be. "His return to play is no different to what we said. We said he'd be back in May. And obviously, we're hoping that he'll be back in May, which means that he'll be available for play-offs and definitely available for the Lions to be selected." Edinburgh's play-off hopes suffered a dent when they conceded a last-minute try to the Sharks, who prevailed 18-17 at a sold-out Hive Stadium. Makazole Mapimpi crossed in the last play of the game and while Edinburgh fronted up admirably in the physical battle with a Sharks side containing 12 Springboks, they did not take their chances in the second half when Magnus Bradbury, Dave Cherry and Jack Brown were all denied close to the Sharks tryline. They were made to pay for their generosity at the death. "A couple of basic errors at the end of the game,” said Everitt. “We had opportunities in the 22. We weren't clinical enough, but I suppose after a loss like this, you've got to find the positives, and the positives are the fight that the guys showed defensively. They hardly fired a shot at us until the last movement of the game. I thought the guys put in a lot of effort on the field and they were determined and came out confident. "We trained well during the week, knowing that we could win the game and that's what I'm happy about, but gutted for the boys, obviously. I think we did enough to do that [win], except on the scoreboard. We've got to take a look at where we were probably two months ago and where we are now. We're obviously a much improved team and we've made a lot of progress. We've just got to keep building, knuckle down and win the next three games [against Zebre, Connacht and Ulster]. "We're going into a difficult fixture next week away. Zebre got the better of us. So, yeah, there's no time to worry about what's happened. We've got to move on." Edinburgh should have full-back Wes Goosen back after he failed a late fitness test to face Sharks, while winger Darcy Graham and flanker Hamish Watson are also likely to return. "We're hoping that Wes will be back and Darcy will be back," said Everitt. "Hamish will be back up for selection. And we've got a couple of other guys that we need to rest next week." Everitt could call upon 19-year-old Brown, who played well when he came on Ross McCann against Sharks in only his second match for the club. The teenager so nearly scored a try at the end, only to be denied by a last-gasp Sharks tackle. "He [Brown] is young," added Everitt. "I thought he was outstanding off the bench tonight, to be honest. It's a game of fine margins. He scores the try, we win and we celebrate. Unfortunately, it wasn't like that."