Duhan van der Merwe gives back to Scotland, ‘the country that has given me so much’

Proud winger says he will never forget his hat-trick against England

Rarely has a player imposed himself on rugby’s oldest international like Duhan van der Merwe whose record in the Calcutta Cup now reads played four, won four, six tries scored.

The Scotland winger was unstoppable under the Murrayfield lights, ruthlessly efficient in the way he took every chance that came his way, cutting a swathe through the white jerseys with his irresistible combination of pace, muscularity and skill. England must be sick of the sight of him. Twice he has been the match-winner at Twickenham and the debate on Saturday night was whether his latest heroics topped even those performances.

The player himself was unsure but in becoming the first Scotland player to ever score a Calcutta Cup hat-trick he has written himself into the storied history of this contest. He is also on the cusp of equalling Stuart Hogg as Scotland’s all-time record try-scorer having overtaken Darcy Graham, Tony Stanger and Ian Smith in the course of the 31-20 win at the weekend.

Van der Merwe now has 26 international tries, two more than the aforementioned trio and one fewer than Hogg. Who would bet against him equalling the record against Italy in Rome in a fortnight, or perhaps even beating it?

Van der Merwe’s journey to Scotland superstardom is not a conventional one, of course. Born and raised in the Western Cape, he played for South Africa at under-20 level before decamping to Europe to join Montpellier. His time in France was largely unhappy and blighted by a hip injury and it was only when he signed for Edinburgh in 2017 that he was able to fulfil the potential he showed as a schoolboy prodigy. He qualified for Scotland on residency grounds three years later but admitted that donning dark blue was not on his agenda when he first came to this country. Now he wants to repay the faith shown in him by his adopted home.

He said Saturday felt “bloody special” and, at 28, there should be many more such days to come.

“When I came over in 2017, there was never the thought of playing for Scotland because the only thing I could think about was playing for Edinburgh,” said van der Merwe. “I mean, I’d only played two professional games at that point.

Scotland's Duhan van der Merwe celebrates at full-time with the Calcutta Cup after his hat-trick in the 31-20 win over England at Scottish Gas Murrayfield. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)

“I had to stay for three years before I’d become eligible for Scotland but it was never guaranteed that I’d come over and automatically just end up playing for Scotland. It doesn’t work like that. I had to perform for my club and then there’s a lot of hard work and dedication that goes into that.

“But I love playing for Scotland and I’m just so happy at how everything has turned out. Proud? Oh 100 per cent. When I come in on the bus on game days, I look at all our fans and I think, ‘How can I give back to Scotland because this country has given me so much?’ I guess with my performances, that is giving back to our fans.”

Scotland struggled initially on Saturday. The visitors were 10-0 ahead after 15 minutes through George Furbank’s converted try and a George Ford penalty before van der Merwe stepped up. His first try came from great centre play from Sione Tuipulotu and Huw Jones, with the latter running an expert line before popping the ball up for van der Merwe whose dummy took out the English defence. The second was also set up by Jones who took advantage of a Furbank fumble to slip the ball to van der Merwe in his own half. Gregor Townsend called it “the breakthrough moment” as the winger scorched down the touchline to score. It meant Scotland went in at the turn 17-13 ahead and he completed his hat-trick five minutes into the second half, latching onto to perfectly measured cross-kick from Finn Russell.

The impressive Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, on as a substitute, scored a second try for England but Russell kept the scoreboard ticking over for Scotland, converting all three tries and adding three penalties to keep the opponents at arm’s length.

Van der Merwe finished his second try after showing great speed to out-run the England defence.

Asked if what he achieved at Murrayfield on Saturday outstripped his wonderful solo try and late winner at Twickenham 12 months previously, van der Merwe was momentarily flummoxed. “Ah, tough question,” he said. “Look at the end of the day, my job as a winger is to finish off opportunities. And scoring two last year and scoring three on Saturday, they’re both bloody special and it’s a day I’ll always remember.”

The self-effacing van der Merwe described two of his Murrayfield tries as “walk-ins”. The other one – the second –

was pure instinct.

"It’s hard to explain,” he said. “I always say to the players, just give me the ball and I will sprint. It’s instinct. I just catch the ball and do my thing. I don’t think much about it. It just comes naturally to me.”

Scotland now roll on to Rome and Dublin with plenty to play for. The championship may be a long shot but there is still the Triple Crown and potentially a highest ever finish in the Six Nations. It looks as if they will have to do it without Tuipulotu who went off with a knee injury on Saturday and was seen on crutches after the game.

Townsend stressed how tough a match Italy will be but the squad will take huge confidence from what was a record-equalling fourth successive win over England. They found ways round and over the much-discussed blitz defence and the coach said their experience against South Africa at the World Cup aided them in that regard.

Having a match-winner like van der Merwe is also helps and he now has five tries from three games in this season’s Six Nations, more than any other player. Hogg’s Scotland record is now very much in his sights.

“When the Six Nations started, that was something I was targeting,” he said. “I knew I had to get seven in five games and hopefully I’m on track. There’s two games left and I think I need two more [to get the record outright]. Hopefully I can achieve that. It would obviously be very special for me and my family.”