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Scottish Rugby set for huge Duhan van der Merwe shaped boost

Sione Tuipulotu embraces Duhan van der Merwe - PA

Duhan van der Merwe is poised to give Scottish Rugby another boost by turning down a move to France when his contract runs out at the end of the season.

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Star winger van der Merwe, 29, one of the lethal finishers in the world, is Scotland’s all-time leading try scorer with 30 in 44 games, one more than Darcy Graham has been linked with a move to Ronan O’Gara’s La Rochelle.

The 6’4” powerhouse was also linked with a return to South Africa to join the Stormers, which was subsequently denied is set to turn down a move to the Atlantic coast to remain in the Scottish capital.

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RugbyPass sources in France have told us that Top 14 recruitment bosses believe that even though he has yet to sign a new contract, only a dramatic collapse would prevent it from happening.

The former South Africa under-20 international and younger brother of former Springbok hooker Akker van der Merwe qualified for Scotland on residency grounds and is closing in on 100 appearances for Edinburgh.

He started his career with the Blue Bulls before moving to Montpellier and arriving in Edinburgh in 2017. He returned in 2022 after a spell in the Premiership with Worcester Warriors.

Edinburgh boss Sean Everitt told RugbyPass after we broke the news of Van der Merwe’s talks with La Rochelle that he was desperate for him to agree a new contract and stay with the United Rugby Championship outfit.

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“I was joking with him today because we obviously read the same article. We want to keep Duhan in Scotland if we can. He’s got a business here in Scotland.

“We desperately do want to keep him here, so we’ll do the best we can. We’re in the process of contracting for season 2025-2026 at the moment. We’ll cross that bridge when it comes to it,” he said.

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SteveD 14 days ago

I'm starting to believe with the incredible depth of SA rugby SARU should discuss the possibility of not just having Saffers playing for foreign club teams, they should suggest that to bring up the game internationally instead of the Duhans having to spend three years qualifying for the international team there could also be a 'loan' type of agreement where they could play automatically for the country they were in for a specific number of years while the home players had time to improve (or something like that) but the game itself would also benefit from better matches. Just an idea, Rassie...

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JW 57 minutes ago
'It doesn’t make sense for New Zealand to deny itself access to world-class players'

There are a couple of inadequacies in this articles points as well.


First

Robertson, in what he has said publicly, is building his argument for change as a means to close the gap that is increasing between the All Blacks and South Africa.

Based on recent performances, the All Blacks are better than the Springboks.


Second

Both games saw the All Blacks lead coming into the last 30 minutes, only for the momentum to shift dramatically once the two sides emptied their respective benches.

The failings of the second half were game plan related, they happened regardless of whether the bench had yet (play got worse very early in the half, even in the first half) been used or not.


And third

Robertson’s view is that because the Boks don’t lose access to their experienced players when they head offshore, it gives them an advantage

Didn't Razor have the most experienced team all year?


Also

“Sam Cane and Ardie Savea with Wallace Siti, what a balance that is.

This is part of Razor's problem. That's a terrible balance. You instead want something like Sam Cane, Hoskins Sotutu, Wallace Sititi. Or Ardie Savea, Sititi, Scott Barrett. Dalton Papaili'i, Savea, Finau. That is balance, not two old struggling to keep up players and an absolute rookie.

It has changed. Not many go north, more go to Japan, so how do we get the balance right to ensure that players who have given loyalty, longevity and who are still playing well

Experience is a priceless commodity in international rugby and New Zealand has a system where it throws away players precisely when they are at their most valuable.

You mean how do we take advantage of this new environment, because nothing has effectively changed has it. It's simply Japan now instead of Europe. What's it going to be like in the future, how is the new American league going to change things?


Mo'unga is the only real valid reason for debating change, but what's far more important is the wide discussion happening that's taking the whole game into account. The current modem throws players away because they decided to go with a 5 team model rather than a 12 or 14 team model. Players have to be asked to leave at the point were we know they aren't going to be All Blacks, when they are playing their best rugby, reached their peak. In order to reset, and see if the next guy coming through can improve on the 'peak' of the last guy. Of course it's going to take years before they even reach the departing players standards, let alone see if they can pass them.


What if there can be a change that enables New Zealand to have a model were players like Jamison Gibson-Park, James Lowe, Bundee Aki, Chandler Cunningham-South, Ethan Roots, Warner Dearns are All Blacks that make their experienced and youth developemnt the envy of the World. That is the discussion that really needs to be had, not how easy it is to allow Mo'unga to play again. That's how the All Blacks end up winning 3 World Cups in a row.

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