'I knew nothing about Edinburgh. I didn't even know it was in Scotland. I'd never really heard of it'
If you’d given 21-year-old Duhan van der Merwe a map and a marker pen and asked him to circle Edinburgh – even to sketch a line around the right continent – the enormous winger would have been hopelessly flummoxed.
It is not that van der Merwe has a blind spot for geography, only that the Scottish capital did not register the tiniest blip on his radar until the summer of 2017 when Richard Cockerill got in touch and a contract offer landed in his inbox.
“I knew nothing about Edinburgh, mate,” he told RugbyPass. “Nothing at all. I didn’t even know Edinburgh existed. I didn’t know where it was, I didn’t even know it was in Scotland. I’d never really heard of it.”
At the time, van der Merwe was coming to the end of a one-year stint among Montpellier’s galacticos. He had played barely any senior rugby, only a handful of Top 14 outings, but done enough to convince Cockerill there was a heck of a talent longing to be unleashed.
This was the starting point for the hulking poster boy of Edinburgh’s backline, a 6ft 4in, 106kg South African show-stopper with swollen arms, thick blonde thatch and the sort of exhilarating game to jolt you off your seat.
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In two years at the club, he averages a try every other match. He has gobbled up an eye-watering yardage count, places among the most prolific PRO14 breakers of tackles and is firmly up there with the continent’s premier strike threats.
Van der Merwe is blooming now, but that he is here at all is down to his elder brother Akker, a rambunctious Springbok hooker who joined Sale Sharks in the summer.
At 15, the younger van der Merwe was ready to jack it in, fed up of his gangling frame and fearful he would never gain the beef required to fill it out. By 18, he had won SA schools, Baby Boks caps and a place in the Blue Bulls set-up, but had seriously injured both knees.
This man has been on FIRE so far this season 🔥@duhanvdmerwe bagged himself a trio of tries for @EdinburghRugby against @scarlets_rugby in Round 4 👏
Could he be the top scorer in all competitions this year? 👀 pic.twitter.com/14oKpMvvML
— BKT United Rugby Championship (URC) (@URCOfficial) November 20, 2019
“I was always the smaller guy, small and skinny. I said to my brother, ‘Nah, I’m just going to focus on athletics and play some hockey’. He told me to stick it out. He always pushed me, told me it was going to work out. He took me to the gym, I picked up a lot of weight, and I really look up to him.
“Getting both knees done at 18… I’m a winger; I’m thinking, where’s my speed going to go? You get back and you get another injury, another injury, and it obviously knocks your confidence. I was injured for 16-18 months of my first two years at the Bulls. You never get the opportunity to even train with the senior boys because you’re not out there proving yourself.
“The same happened to my brother. He went out of school, broke his leg, and for four years was just injured, injured, injured. He got his degree, went to the Lions, and since then has had an amazing career.
https://twitter.com/Akker_vd_Merwe/status/1056233267781947392
“He used to bully me when we were kids. He’d call me out to the garden to play touch rugby and all of a sudden just bump me on my back and stand there laughing. When I actually started to get some muscle on me, I said, ‘One day, I’ll get you back’. I don’t know when that’ll be – it’ll probably have to wait until he’s 50 or 60.”
Overwhelmed by the sheer volume of rivals scrapping for minutes in the Bulls age-grades, van der Merwe began to doubt himself. He also grew weary of a system he saw as cynical. The bigger franchises, he felt, were playing a numbers game – hoovering up as many prospects as they could and gambling that at least a few would become stars.
“They’ve got so many boys to choose from, so many boys,” he said. “Straight after school, you’ve got unions… that was sometimes the problem. I’ve seen it happen where they’ll sign 55 of the best boys. Well, only 23 can play. Some of them are not even playing anymore.
Wingers are grinners 😁😁 pic.twitter.com/u0PG5cyIeb
— Edinburgh Rugby (@EdinburghRugby) December 16, 2018
“If they maybe went a different route, went to a smaller union, they’d have had an opportunity. Some of them don’t even get an opportunity. Sometimes they leave to a different union, they start playing, and all of a sudden it’s like, this guy’s unreal. The numbers are mad.
“As you get it older, it just gets harder and harder and harder because there are youngsters coming in the whole time and you still have to compete with boys older than you, internationals and all that. I was just going through a period where I didn’t back myself.”
It was at Montpellier where he found his mojo. Playing time was lean, but Scott Wisemantel, Eddie Jones’ attack coach, poured hours of extra drills into him. The giants in his midst urged him on. “It was a nice learning year for me, playing with Bismarck du Plesiss, Nemani Nadolo, Frans Steyn, Jan Serfontein, all those boys.
“I’m not sure Leicester have decided where they’re at"
Cockerill talks Tigers https://t.co/qSsVzqqL8G
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 27, 2019
“That’s what kept me going. Frans Steyn used to say, ‘You’ve got good speed and strength, back yourself, run at people’. It was very cool. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t go there expecting to start every game. You look at all those boys they’re signing and you’re thinking, do I really have a shot here?
“Getting the opportunity to come to Edinburgh, that’s where my career started. I would have liked it to start earlier than when I was turning 22. I was still young, but my career started here at Edinburgh when Richard Cockerill backed me.”
The next six months are monumental. Some seriously big decisions loom. By July, van der Merwe’s contract will be up and he will have lived in Scotland long enough to become eligible for the national team. Negotiations have begun over a new deal and the likelihood is that he will sign it.
The @PRO14Official is the international coaching market's primary pipeline https://t.co/3qL86fbwpI
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 27, 2019
Inevitably, given the kind of rugby he has been playing, talk of Scotland caps will be rife. The national coaches have not been in touch, but you would have to imagine they have been watching him very closely. And of course, should the stars align, van der Merwe would qualify just in time for Scotland’s tour of South Africa. The country he barely knew existed against the world champions for whom he longed to play.
“If that was to happen, that would be strange, but it would be an awesome opportunity to show as a player what you’re about after leaving the country. I’m looking to play at the highest level possible, otherwise what am I playing for? When that opportunity comes, I’ll grab it with both hands.
“I’d love to think that I can make a difference (at international level). I’d like to think I can cause damage. Because when you play Champions Cup, you play against international boys and you think, well I’ve actually done alright. So I’d love to test myself if that opportunity comes.”
ICYMI: Our team to face @WaspsRugby at BT Murrayfield this evening.
🔄 JJ and George in midfield
👱♂️ @Darcy_Graham returns
7⃣ changes in total🎟 » https://t.co/eYThjXxzpS pic.twitter.com/swiB7M76NS
— Edinburgh Rugby (@EdinburghRugby) December 6, 2019
For now, all of that can wait. Cockerill has rolled out his big guns for the Challenge Cup visit of Wasps this Friday, and will, as he is fond of saying go ‘full-metal-jacket’ when they collide with a Glasgow team that seems to be losing its way over the PRO14 festive period.
Last year, Edinburgh didn’t quite have the cattle to sustain a challenge on two fronts. They topped their Champions Cup pool but limped over the line in the league and as a result were booted into Europe’s second tier.
Cockerill has grown the squad, his go-to men are fit and his attack has extra gears it could not find at vital moments in the previous campaign. Edinburgh sit at the summit of their Challenge Cup section and only two points off the pace in PRO14 Conference B.
💬 "It's obviously my job to score tries. I'd love to score a couple tonight – hopefully it goes well!"@duhanvdmerwe is back in the No.1⃣1⃣ jersey this evening as we face @UBBrugby.
🎟️ » https://t.co/XZb4TA4uHC pic.twitter.com/7WV8kiR4xb
— Edinburgh Rugby (@EdinburghRugby) November 22, 2019
“The past two years, we used the forwards up, used the forwards up, then box kicked and put pressure on, which worked. As a backline, you weren’t getting many touches,” explained van der Merwe. “Now, we have got a different game plan. You as a winger need to be more of a ball player now – you can’t just stand on the edge and run it. You have to use your brain, pass, make good decisions under pressure.
“Every single guy in the backline has good X-factor. That’s what we want to try and use more. Now we have got a backline that can cause damage and a forwards pack that can cause a lot of damage, so teams now are thinking, ‘Oh s**t, which way are they going to play?’
“We’re going to try and win the Challenge Cup and get into the semi-finals, even the final of the PRO14. Last year, we maybe couldn’t rotate as much. This year, you can rotate 15 boys and the quality doesn’t drop. We can attack both tournaments this season and see if we can win the PRO14, because we have definitely got the squad to do it.”
WATCH: Scott Robertson’s moment of truth awaits as his All Blacks interview looms
Comments on RugbyPass
Good to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
17 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
7 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
17 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
7 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
7 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
26 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
17 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
26 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
17 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
84 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
2 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
7 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
17 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
14 Go to commentsI like this, but ultimately rugby already has enough trophies. Trying to make more games “consequential" might prove to be a fools errand, although this is a less bad idea than some others. Minor quibble with the title of the article; it isn’t very meaningful to say the boks are the unofficial world champions when it would be functionally impossible for the Raeburn trophy not to be held by the world champions. There’s a period of a few months every 4 years when there is no “unofficial” world champion, and the Raeburn trophy is held by the actual world champions.
17 Go to comments