Gregor Townsend issues ominous Duhan van der Merwe warning

Gregor Townsend believes there is “a lot more to come” from Duhan van der Merwe as Scotland’s record try-scorer prepares to win his 50th cap against USA at Murrayfield on Saturday.

The South Africa-born wing made his debut against Georgia in October 2020 and has since amassed 32 tries in 49 appearances while also earning involvement in each of the last two British and Irish Lions tours.

Head coach Townsend has enjoyed watching Van der Merwe emerge as a talismanic figure for his team and he expects the swashbuckling 30-year-old to go on and gather many more caps.

“He’s created so many special moments,” he said. “It’s hard to believe that his debut was just five years ago, so to get 50 caps within that five years shows how important he’s been for us in terms of being selected whenever he’s been available, his own consistency and durability, and how he has evolved his game.

“When he first came in, he was a great ball-carrier who needed to develop his defence, which he has done. He’s been a defence leader now for the last couple of seasons.

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“He has worked really hard on his contact area and I think last season showed his ability to put others into space, so his game is growing, it needs to keep growing like all our players, but it’s great that we’ve had him for the last five years and there’s a lot more to come.”

With English and French-based players like Finn Russell, Tom Jordan, Blair Kinghorn and Ben White unavailable for selection until the visit of New Zealand next weekend, Townsend has opted for an experimental line-up, interspersed with senior players like Van der Merwe, Darcy Graham, Jack Dempsey and Scott Cummings.

Edinburgh’s Liam McConnell, 21, will make his debut at blindside flanker, while Edinburgh hooker Harri Morris, 24, is handed the chance to win his first cap off the bench.

“We’ve selected Liam on what he’s been doing with Edinburgh, but also his potential,” said Townsend. “Liam really impressed us back in the under-20s and whenever we’ve had him in our environment, it’s his aggression and his effort.

“He was one of the fittest players coming through Edinburgh’s pre-season, so he’s put in the work and now he’s getting the rewards.”

Glasgow forwards Zander Fagerson and Rory Darge are both continuing to work on their fitness with a view to returning from injury against the All Blacks next weekend.

“Zander trained with the team on Tuesday and Wednesday, we did a live session out there yesterday and he took a full part in that,” said Townsend. “Rory isn’t at that stage right now so he’s still working with the physios, so he’s running, he really tested himself this week and he’s come through well.

“We have a session tomorrow, so we’ll see where both those players are.

It would be good to know that they’re able to train tomorrow because as you go into a Test week you want to announce the squad as early as possible in the week, so we’ll have more evidence after this weekend.”