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'He will be a handful': Springboks assistant coach wary of threat posed by South African-born Duhan van der Merwe
Springbok assistant coach Deon Davids says Duhan van der Merwe will be a ‘handful’ during the British and Irish Lions series.
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The South African-born Scotland star will make his first appearance in the famous red jersey against Japan at Murrayfield Stadium on Saturday.
Van der Merwe earned his place in Warren Gatland’s squad after an impressive 2021 Six Nations campaign for Scotland. He was the tournament’s leading try-scorer with five tries.
The 26-year-old, who will be joining English club Worcester Warriors ahead of the new season, was one of the Pro14’s best players over the last few seasons when he played for Edinburgh.
“Duhan van Der Merwe has been a quality player since his George days with Warrick Gelant at Outeniqua High School,” Davids said.
“They were an excellent team and I had the privilege of watching them play at school and then watching their progress into the SA Schools team.
Davids explained that Van der Merwe was a great prospect for South Africa, but his future became clouded over injuries.
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“He was a great prospect for us going forward, but unfortunately a couple of injuries over the years actually became stumbling blocks in his progress,” he said.
“At the end of the day, it is good to see that he overcame all of these obstacles. He had standout performances in the past few years for his club Edinburgh and also for Scotland.
“I think he deserves his place in the Lions squad. He is a big strong wing, and he has that exceptional ability to finish.
“He will be a handful and we are looking forward to having him on South African turf playing against us.”
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Van der Merwe also shared his side of his story on a recent Lions Origins profile, explaining that it was his older brother Akker van der Merwe who pushed him to keep going after he thought about giving the game up while in South Africa.
“At the age of 15 I wanted to give up rugby and play a different sport,” he said.
“He got me into the gym on the field doing extra stuff. He always believed in me, even when things weren’t going that well after school, he backed me to make the move to come abroad and play.
“I’ll always look up to him for always backing me.”
As for how he came to don Scottish colours, Van der Merwe explained that his career only got going once he landed in Edinburgh.
“I went to the Bulls after school, and things didn’t work out as I wanted them to,” he said on Lions Origins
“I decided to leave, went to Montpellier and then onto Edinburgh. That’s where my career actually started.
The Scottish club gave him a chance to stay despite arriving in no shape to play, requiring hip surgery, but the gamble paid off handsomely.
“Failing a medical, I thought ‘that’s me probably done’ but I got a lifeline from Edinburgh.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Oh dear, bones too suspect to continue?
1 Go to commentsBold headline considering the Canes and Blues are 1 and 2 and the Brumbies were soundly beaten by the Chiefs and Blues. Biggest surprise is Rebels 4 Crusaders 12 - no one saw that coming. If Aus are improving that’s great 👍
1 Go to commentsAnna, You are right, we need to have patience whilst the others catch up to England and France. Also it is the PWR that has been the game changer for England. the RFU put money into that initially at the expense of the Red Roses. I was sceptical at first but it has paid off in spades.
1 Go to commentsI think Matt Proctor became a 1 test AB in the same fixture. Cameron is quality and has been great this season, can’t believe’s he only 27. Realistically how would he not be selected for ABs squad this year. Only Dmac is ahead of him as a specialist 10. With Jordan out, it will come down to where and when Beauden Barrett slots back in, and where they want to play Ruben Love. Cameron seems an absolute lock in for the wider squad though. Added benefit of TJ-Cameron-Jordie combination at 9, 10, 11 too.
1 Go to commentsFarcical, to what end would someone want to pay to keep this thing going.
1 Go to commentsHavili, our best 12 by a mile, will be in the squad, if he stays fit. JB is the most overrated AB in the last 50 years.
61 Go to commentsWe had during the week twilight footy, twilight cricket, tw golf plus there was the athletics club. Then the weekend was rugby 15s plus the net ball, really busy club scene back then but so much has changed and rugby has suffered. And it was all about changing lifestyles.
6 Go to commentsIn the 70s and 80s my club ran 5 Senior sides plus a Vets. Now it is 2 sides with an occasional 3rd team. Players have difficulty getting to training now, not sure why and the commitment is not there. It seems to me more a problem of people applying themselves and not expecting to turn up and play whenever they want to.
6 Go to commentsROG’s contract is until 2027. The conversation about a successor to Galthie after RWC 2027 may be starting now. We can infer that Galthie’s reign stops then. He is throwing the Irish Coaching Job angle in because he is Irish. The next Irish coach MUST be Leo Cullen. As well as being the best coach available, coaching the vast majority of Irish Internationals week in week out, he has shown incredible skill at recruiting the best coaching staff for the job in hand. That was a failing in France. Cullen is a shrewd guy and if there is a need for foreign coaches underneath him he won’t hesitate. Rightly so. Ireland does need to start to bring Irish coaches through. Not just at the professional level but we need to train coaches to man new pathways for developing kids from schools/clubs up through the divisions.
8 Go to commentsNo Islam says it must rule where it stands Thus it is to be deleted from this planet Earth
18 Go to commentsThis team probably does not beat the ABs sadly Not sure if BPA will be available given his signing for Force but has to enter consideration. Very strong possibility of getting schooled by the AB props. Advantage AB. Rodda/Skelton would be a tasty locking combination - would love to see how they get on. Advantage Wallabies. Backrow a risk of getting out hustled and outmuscled by ABs. Will be interesting to see if the Blues feast on the Reds this weekend the way they did the Brumbies we are in big trouble at the breakdown. Great energy, running and defence but goalkicking/general kicking/passing quality in the halves bothers me enormously. SA may have won the World Cup for a lot of the tournament without a recognised goalkicker but Pollard in the final made a difference IMO. Injuries and retirements leave AB stocks a bit lighter but still stronger. 12 and 13 ABs shade it (Barret > Paisami, Ione = Ikitau, arguably) Interesting clash of styles on the wings - Corey Toole running around Caleb Clark and Caleb running over the top of Toole. Reece vs Koro probably the reverse. Pretty even IMO. 15s Kelleway = Love See advantage to ABs man for man, but we are not obviously getting slaughtered anywhere which makes a nice change. Think talent wise we are pretty even and if our cohesion and teamwork is better than the ABs then its just about doable.
11 Go to commentsCompletely agree. More friday night games would be a hit. RFU to make sure every club has a floodlit pitch. Club opens again Saturday to welcome touch / tag. Minis and youths on Sunday
6 Go to comments1.97m and 105Kg? Proportionately, probably skinnier than me at 1.82 and 82kilos. He won’t survive against the big guys at that weight.
56 Go to commentsThe value he brought to the crusaders as an assistant was equal to what he got out of being there. He reflected not only on the team culture but also the credit he attributed to the rugby community. Such experience shouldn’t be overlooked.
8 Go to commentsGood luck Aussie
11 Go to commentssmith at 9 / mounga 10 / laumape 12 / fainganuku 14
61 Go to commentsBar the injuries, it’s pretty much their top team …
2 Go to commentsDon’t disagree with much of this but it appears you forgot Rodda and Beale, who started at the Force on the weekend.
11 Go to commentsExcept for the injured Zach Gallagher this would be Saders best forward pack for the season. Blackadder needs to stay at 7, for all of Christies tackling he is not dominant and offers very little else. McNicholfullback is maybe a good option, Fihaki not really upto it, there was a reason Burke played there last year. Maybe Havilli to 2nd five McLeod to wing. Need a strong winger on 1 side to compliment Reece
1 Go to commentsTo me TJ is clearly the best 9 in the competition right now but he's also a proven player off the bench, there's few playmaking players who can come off the bench as calm and settled as he is, Beauden can, TJ can and I doubt any of the scrumhalves in contention can, if they want to experiment with new 9s I want him on the bench ready to step in if they crumble under the pressure. The Boks put their best front row on the bench, I'd like to see us take a similar approach, the Hurricanes have been doing similar things with players like Kirifi.
61 Go to comments