The 37-year-old enjoyed a fruitful career in Europe after leaving the Lions for Leinster Rugby in 2010 and winning two Heineken Cup winners’ medals for the Irish province, before switching to France with Stade Français Paris, for whom he won a Challenge Cup title.

He was a regular in the Leinster squad who lifted back-to-back Heineken Cups in 2011 and 2012, playing in every game in both campaigns, although he was only a second-half replacement in the 33-22 victory over Northampton Saints in the former final and the 42-14 rout of Ulster Rugby in the latter decider.

Nevertheless, the former Springboks prop scored one of Leinster’s five tries in a record-breaking performance by the Irish province as they registered the most points, tries, conversions and biggest winning margin in a Heineken Cup final.

A further five appearances in Europe’s top flight followed for Leinster, before he moved to the Parisian club in 2013 and played 13 of his 23 European games for them across both competitions over four seasons before returning home.

Those matches included the 2017 Challenge Cup final, when Van der Merwe helped Stade Français to a 25-17 triumph over Gloucester Rugby after starting in the No.1 jersey.

To celebrate the landmark expansion of EPCR tournaments to include South Africa sides for the first time, we are looking back at players from that country who have already made an impact on the competitions for European clubs. Today we review Heinke van der Merwe’s three European titles.