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'This the first time we have played against each other since backyard rugby'
Akker and Duhan van der Merwe will take their backyard family rugby battles onto the AJ Bell pitch on Saturday night in a Sale Sharks versus Edinburgh precursor to what they hope will be a history-making family clash when the British and Irish Lions face South Africa in a three-Test series next July.
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Springboks forward Akker van der Merwe, 29, will be at hooker for Sale in the round two Heineken Champions Cup match while Edinburgh will include recently capped Scotland international Duhan, 25, on the left wing.
With Akker back on the Springboks radar after winning three caps in 2018 and Duhan one of the form wings available to the Lions selectors, a potential head-to-head in the three Test series would allow the family to make rugby history.
It is a prospect that Akker admits would be remarkable, something their parents back in South Africa would have to come to terms with.
Sale hooker van der Merwe told RugbyPass: “I’m trying to play as consistently as possible to put myself back in Springboks mix and that is the goal. It would be a huge achievement and a dream for me to play against the Lions.
‘I’d love to think I can make a difference (at international level). I’d like to think I can cause damage… I’d love to test myself if that opportunity comes’
– @duhanvdmerwe tells @JLyall93 about @EdinburghRugby and the circuitous route to prove himself
https://t.co/MYjaruxPYU— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) December 6, 2019
“I don’t think it has ever happened where the host nation has one brother and the Lions also has (another) one. If that was to happen I don’t think mum and dad would even watch because they wouldn’t be able to pick a side. I have never played against Duhan, who is now two caps ahead of me.
“We have spoken about him playing for Scotland and I’m very happy for him. I made my Springbok debut in Washington (against Wales) and the family could not be there and because of Covid, we couldn’t be at Murrayfield for Duhan’s debut. I had to watch the game on television.”
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Besides playing in very different positions – Duhan inhabiting the wide-open spaces on the wing while Akker is in the middle of the front row – the brothers also physically worlds apart.
Duhan is 6ft 4ins, 16st 6lbs and clean-shaven while his older brother is a bearded ball of physical energy, standing 5ft 7ins but exactly the same weight. Akker is known as the Angry Warthog, a nickname given to him by Nick Mallett, the ex-Springboks coach, when he saw him carry the ball into contact.
Akker added: “Nick Mallett described me as running like an angry warthog in my first game for the Lions in 2014 and it has just stuck.”
Duhan was part of the South Africa squad that finished runners-up at the 2014 Junior World Championship alongside Handre Pollard and Jesse Kriel. He has averaged a try every other game for Edinburgh and was named the PRO14 players’ player of the season for 2019/20. He qualified for Scotland on residency and collected five caps during the autumn along with three tries to highlight his power and pace.
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Both brothers have an eye for the try line which throws up the question – who is the quickest brother? “I was when we were younger,” said Akker, the brothers getting their pace from their mother, who was a sprinter, and dad, who played hooker.
“Thankfully, it’s in the genes. I could probably take him on over five metres now but after that, no chance of me catching him. This the first time we have played against each other since backyard rugby when we went head to head. I had a bit of an advantage then because of the age gap but that doesn’t count anymore.
"We're not doing anything. It's poor."
Racially abused on his England debut, in the wake of the Matera furore, @YardeM fears little has changed in rugby
The Sale wing talks prejudice, Dimes & his campaign to end homelessness in Manchester
??@JLyall93https://t.co/wq7M2owgNR
— RugbyPass+ (@RugbyPassPlus) December 15, 2020
“Duhan has always been in the backs starting at school and I was a scrum-half, but that is now a few years and a few pounds ago! I’m very proud of him and hope to see Duhan playing in the Six Nations if the fixtures and travelling make it possible.
“I’m very proud and want to be there to support him through his achievements. When he came over I don’t think it was in the back of his head to play for Scotland, but he played well, got the opportunity and I’m very happy he got the chance.”
The brothers have been the target of misinformation on Duhan’s Wikipedia entry which claims Akker is named after clarinettist Acker Bilk while Duhan was named after Irish folk musician Johnny Duhan.
Neither is true, Akker instead being a family nickname that has come down the generations “I’m not named after Acker Bilk. That is absolutely not true. My nickname (Akker) started with my grandfather, then my father and now me.”
Akker was born in Vanderbijlpark but grew up in George where both brothers played for Outeniqua High and became the sixth and seventh international rugby players produced by the school.
Both suffering defeats in the opening weekend, @SaleSharksRugby go toe-to-toe with @EdinburghRugby in R2 ??
Which side will get their campaign kickstarted? ?#HeinekenChampionsCup XVs ?? pic.twitter.com/9gSGOJawoH
— Investec Champions Cup (@ChampionsCup) December 18, 2020
Akker put in another impressive performance when Sale lost at Toulon last weekend, late tries from Marland Yarde and James Phillips highlighting the attacking power the Sharks possesses, and they need to bounce back against Edinburgh who lost to 13-8 at home to La Rochelle.
The Toulon game ended a difficult week that had started with Steve Diamond, the director of rugby, leaving Sale and Paul Deacon taking over the role on a temporary basis.
“Edinburgh are a quality team with a lot of Scotland players and we are going to have to step up our performance for the full 80 minutes and not just for the last 20. It was obviously a shock to lose Dimes but Paul has stepped up and is doing a good job,” reckoned Akker.
“We played a lot of good rugby in Toulon and it was a case of errors when got into their 22 and we couldn’t convert those chances. But we stuck to our game plan and scored two beautiful tries. We will take confidence out of that.”
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Comments on RugbyPass
Should've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood 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.
19 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.
9 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.
19 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?
9 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.
9 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.
28 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 🤐
19 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….
28 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….
19 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….
90 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
4 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
9 Go to comments