Frustrated Duhan van der Merwe to discuss Scotland future with Townsend

Scotland wing Duhan van der Merwe has spoken of his turmoil at never feeling “fully himself” over an injury-affected past year as he prepares to meet Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend to discuss his immediate prospects of a return to the Test arena.

The giant Edinburgh flyer had surgery on his ankle last spring in a bid to be fit for the British and Irish Lions’ trip to Australia but revealed the issue just got “worse and worse” over the course of the tour and the following months.

He was left out of Scotland’s major November Tests against New Zealand and Argentina and matters came to a head during his sole outing in this year’s Six Nations when he was selected to start against Wales in Cardiff, only to be forced off in the second half with a recurrence of his ankle problem.

That prompted a change of approach where Van der Merwe was given some time off by Edinburgh to visit his family in South Africa before returning to fully rehabilitate his ankle, with Saturday’s URC fixture against Dragons marking his first outing in 11 weeks.

Asked if he had felt fully fit at any point during the past 12 months, Van der Merwe said: “Fully myself? No. No. It’s been a tough year. I’ve not felt myself. I’m not saying that after one game I am myself, because it’ll take some time, but one thing I can definitely guarantee you is that my ankle is a lot better than what it was for a full year.

“I’m trying to get back where I need to be. The club needs me to get back to the old Duhan. My team-mates need me and my main focus is just to get back to enjoying what I do, because when I enjoy it, I’m at my best.

“When I’m injured and I don’t get picked, I can’t enjoy what I do because I’m outside, I’m hurt, I’m sore. You can’t enjoy running around then, can you? So the biggest thing for me is focusing on my body and the rest will happen.”

Van der Merwe, who turns 31 next month, originally injured his ankle on 28 March last year, missing Edinburgh’s final eight games of the season before making his return after nearly three months out in the Lions’ hazardous pre-tour warm-up match against Argentina.

“Initially it seemed like something small and I thought it would be a couple of weeks,” he recalled. “Going on the Lions tour, I knew that the ankle’s probably not going to be where it needs to be, but then normally with these things, it kind of disappears over weeks, months. But mine got worse and worse and worse and worse.

“I got to a point where I had to make a decision on where I’m at because it’s not fair towards Scotland, it’s not fair towards the club, it’s not fair towards my team-mates and especially it’s not fair towards me – having to go out there, trying to give my best, but knowing that I’m restricted. I can’t be the Duhan I want to be. It’s not been easy. I’m just trying to get back to what I love doing.”

Van der Merwe marked his comeback from 11 weeks out on Saturday with a brace of tries in Edinburgh’s 24-15 URC win in Newport, his first a straightforward finish in the left corner before bumping off several weak tackles with six minutes left for the clinching score. But they were only two of five carries overall for the winger.

“I wouldn’t say I was too happy with my game,” he said. “Not a lot of involvement. I swear I’m the only winger saying this, but I feel like nothing ever goes my way.

“Yeah, I need to find ways to get more involved and I try and do that on the pitch, but unfortunately sometimes when a move gets called on your side of the pitch and the move has evolved around you getting the ball and we lose the lineout or something goes wrong, that’s just unfortunately how the game works nowadays.

“But I enjoyed being back out there with the team and I loved it, the body actually allowing me to enjoy what I do after the constant struggles and niggles.”

Van der Merwe will have one more opportunity on Friday in Edinburgh’s final URC match of the season against Connacht to build momentum before Townsend finalises his Scotland squad for their first Nations Championship Tests in July against Argentina in Cordoba, South Africa in Pretoria and Fiji at Murrayfield.

The head coach preferred Kyle Steyn and Darcy Graham for the Scots’ biggest Tests in November and the Glasgow duo of Steyn and Jamie Dobie for the first two games of the Six Nations before Dobie suffered a campaign-ending shoulder injury against England.

Van der Merwe, who was reluctant to “get too much in depth” about his feelings at losing his Scotland place, is scheduled to meet Townsend on Tuesday to assess whether he should be involved this summer.

“It’s not been easy with a lot of things going on, obviously, in the back of my head,” he added. “Hopefully that’s in the past now, and I can just build over the next couple of weeks, months.

“I’ll be meeting up with Gregor tomorrow and we’ll kind of see where things are at. I’ve not spoken to him since the Six Nations, so it’ll be nice to catch up, you know. I’m probably not in a place where I can make a decision on if I want the summer off or not.

“I need to probably make sure that I’m in a spot where I can get back into the team. I’m not first choice anymore, so I’m not the go-to guy anymore. I’ve got a lot of hard work to do over the next couple of weeks, months or whatever that might be.

“I’d love to be able to retire one day and say that I’ve beaten South Africa in South Africa. But the biggest thing for me is just to kind of see how I get on this week. I guess then we can kind of have a discussion on where we’re at.

“The summer series is still a couple of months away, so it gives me a brilliant time to work on what I need to work on. It’s an exciting two months ahead.”