Duhan: 'I never thought I'd be where I am today'
SPOTLIGHT: Scotland star Duhan van der Merwe admitted that his rise on the international stage in the colours of Scotland was something that he could never envisage a few years ago.
The South African-born star started out with the Blue Bulls before he made the move to France in 2016 where he joined Montpellier.
That was only a brief stint as he found himself joining Edinburgh a year later.
After impressing for the Scottish club, he eventually made his international debut against Georgia at Murrayfield in 2020.
Van der Merwe, who had a brief stint for Worcester before heading back to Edinburgh, has since established himself as one the world’s best wings over the last few years and now he will be looking to take that form into this year’s World Cup in France.
“I’m absolutely buzzing. It’s something I’ve been working towards over the last couple of years in the back of my head so getting the phone call from Gregor [Townsend] was really special for me and my family,” said Van der Merwe.
“If you’d told me about six years ago when I first joined Edinburgh that I’d be playing for Scotland and going to a World Cup, I’d probably laugh at you and say no chance.
“I think a lot of it is down to coaches having belief in me and a lot of it is down to hard work and dedication to get where I am today.
“As a young player, I always strived to be the best player I could be. I always knew I was quick and strong but I never thought I’d be where I am today.”
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Scotland is in a tough Pool B which includes Van der Merwe’s country of birth, Ireland, Tonga and Romania.
Ireland and the Springboks are the bookies’ favourites to reach the quarterfinals from that pool, but Van der Merwe believes his squad will have enough firepower to cause an upset.
“Oh yes, 100 percent,” he said.
“If you want to be the best in the world, you have to beat the best in the world.
“What a challenge it is for us in our pool stage to go up against South Africa and Ireland and Tonga, who are brilliant teams as well.
“If we want to get to the quarterfinals, we have to beat them. It’s a real test for us but I believe with the players we have in our squad we can beat any team on our day.”
Van der Merwe believes Scotland has shown enough in their two warm-up meetings against France recently that they are not far off from the big boys in the world.
“Really close, really close,” said Van der Merwe, when asked about Scotland’s level.
“We have showcased that against France [in Saint-Etienne earlier this month].
“We probably dropped off for five to 10 minutes and good teams will punish you when you drop off but that’s something we can work on.
“We have showcased what we can do as a team, coming from behind and almost beating France in France. We have got a very special group.”
Source: PA
