Wales v Scotland: Duhan van der Merwe ready to embrace Six Nations opportunity if it comes his way

Growing up in South Africa, Duhan van der Merwe viewed the Six Nations as a strange competition played in ridiculous weather conditions.

Duhan van der Merwe scored on his Scotland debut against Georgia. Picture: Ross Parker/SNS

Now the winger is desperate to make his debut in the championship after marking his first Scotland appearance with a try on Friday night.

Gregor Townsend’s side face Wales in Llanelli on Saturday and no-one is pretending the match will be anything other than a big step up from Friday’s comfortable 48-7 home win over Georgia.

Van der Merwe showed some nice touches against the east Europeans, culminating in a fine try created by substitute Finn Russell with a smart reverse pass to the in-rushing winger.

Finn Russell offloads to Duhan van der Merwe for the winger's second half try. Picture: Craig Williamson/SNS

“It was very special to score on my debut. I loved it,” said the Edinburgh man. “Finn was saying ‘just run on my inside’, so I did that and he put me away. Getting my first dot down was amazing so if I can get a couple more in the future it will be amazing.”

Van der Merwe revealed that part of Townsend’s game plan was to get him on the ball at least ten times against the Georgians. The big winger is used to playing on the wide-open plains of Murrayfield but found space far more limited on his Test debut.

“It is a bit different. I was actually saying to myself after the first five minutes ‘wow, I feel really marked, there is not much space’. Obviously, in international rugby they really analyse you and stuff, so I just have to work around that and find ways to beat guys.

“We spoke about getting myself on the ball more than 10 times, and that was the mission going into this game. So, I just said to myself, get on Finn’s inside and luckily enough he put me away.”

With his family and friends watching on TV at home in South Africa, it was a proud moment for van der Merwe who qualified for Scotland in the summer after fulfilling the three-year residency requirement.

“It was live on Super Sport so my family and friends watched, and then Scotland managed to get my family and friends on a Zoom call when I got my cap presented in the changing room, which was very special.

“Our captain, Fraser Brown, gave me the cap.”

Thoughts now turn to Wales and the chance to end a long barren run in the Principality. Scotland have not won there since 2002 but 25-year-old van der Merwe is mercifully free of any of that baggage.

“If I can get an opportunity to make my Six Nations debut, then that is very exciting for myself,” he said. “We’ll see what the week is like and who gets picked.

“Back home we would watch it and be like ‘oh, who would want to play in the wet, cold weather?’ But, obviously, now being over here, I understand and it is a tournament I want to be involved in playing against all the best teams up north and in the UK.”

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