Van der Merwe 'buzzing' after his Scotland job
REACTION: Scotland try-scorer Duhan van der Merwe hopes their memorable Six Nations victory over England at Twickenham has inspired the nation.
The 25-year-old South African-born wing was making his sixth appearance for Scotland since qualifying to represent his adoptive country through the three-year residency rule.
And it was his first-half try that ultimately proved the difference as the visitors made history by winning at Twickenham for the first time since 1983 with an 11-6 success.
Finn Russell also added six points from the tee to seal the Calcutta Cup triumph on the 150th anniversary of Scotland and England’s first match against each other.
The victory ended Scotland’s 38-year wait for a win on English soil and Van der Merwe said the players had talked beforehand about what it would mean to the country.
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“Obviously I’m buzzing, it’s a massive win for us,” he said.
“We came out and said that we want to inspire a nation and hopefully we did that.”
Russell kicked Scotland’s opening penalty in the fifth minute as the visitors piled the pressure on the reigning Six Nations champions from the first whistle in London.
As the England penalties mounted, Van der Merwe came close to scoring the game’s opening try when he almost latched onto Russell’s crossfield kick as the half hour approached.
But he soon put that near-miss behind him when he received the ball from hooker George Turner moments later before barging his way over for what proved to be the match-winning try.
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“At the end of the day that’s my job,” he said. “When I got the ball from George I just said to myself I need to finish this and luckily I managed to just get myself over the whitewash.”
And Van der Merwe also had a message for all the Scotland fans watching from home.
“I know it’s tough for you fans not to be able to celebrate this game with us but hopefully we’ll get some fans in the future and we’ll see you guys at a sold-out Murrayfield,” he added.
Source: Six Nations Rugby
Powerful try, @duhanvdmerwe 💪 pic.twitter.com/pOGyiMASAe
— Scottish Rugby (@Scotlandteam) February 7, 2021
