Duhan van der Merwe admits he could never have envisaged a rise to prominence that means he is going to his first Rugby World Cup as a talismanic figure within a Scotland backline loaded with “X factor”.
The 28-year-old South-Africa-born wing was relatively unheralded when he first joined Edinburgh in 2017 following an underwhelming year in France with Montpellier.
But his career has taken off emphatically since then. After impressing in the Scottish capital, and following three years of residency in Scotland, the swashbuckling back earned an international debut for Gregor Townsend’s team against Georgia in October 2020, who return to Murrayfield this Saturday for a pre-World Cup warm-up match.
Van der Merwe – who had a stint at Worcester before returning to Edinburgh almost a year ago – was part of the 2021 British and Irish Lions squad, is seventh on Scotland’s all-time try-scoring list, and is cast as one of the most exciting wings on the planet as he heads to his first World Cup in France at the start of next month.
“I’m absolutely buzzing,” he told the PA news agency, reflecting on the recent confirmation that he is in the World Cup squad. “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 was really special for me and my family.
“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. I was a pretty raw player when I first joined Edinburgh, so fair play to all the coaches throughout the years for helping me improve my skills and understand the game more. I’ll always be thankful to them.
“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. I’m just absolutely buzzing.”
Van der Merwe is intent on showing in France, on the biggest stage of all, why his stock is so high, and he believes that opposing teams planning to stop any of the Scottish backs will have a problem.
“I absolutely love going up against the best of the best,” he said. “That’s where I can showcase what I can do. But most importantly, my number one job is just to do my best for Scotland and hopefully all the other bits will come.
“I guess teams and players analyse you as a player and that’s when it gets quite fun because you have to find ways of beating defenders, getting line-breaks and scoring tries. It just makes it more exciting for me.
“But if teams want to focus on me, that potentially means there is space for someone else. I think with the players we have in this squad, you can’t just look at one, two or three players and just focus on them because throughout our backline everyone’s got X factor.”
Darcy Graham, Kyle Steyn, Finn Russell, Blair Kinghorn, Ben White, Huw Jones and Sione Tuipulotu are just some of the Scottish backs who have excelled in the lead-up to the World Cup.
“It’s absolutely brilliant to play with these guys,” said Van der Merwe. “Having Finn at 10 is always special. As a winger, you always think you’ll definitely score with him at 10.
“And then Blair at full-back, I’ve played with him at Edinburgh for years and he’s unbelievable, he’s got real X factor. Kyle Steyn, Ollie Smith, all these guys, the competition among the backs is really good at the moment.
“I wouldn’t say there’s anyone who is definitely going to start against South Africa because everyone is pushing for that starting jersey. I absolutely love that competition between us.”
The Scots, ranked fifth in the world, are in a top-heavy World Cup pool with Ireland and world champions South Africa, but Van der Merwe is adamant his team believe they can get through to the quarter-finals and beyond.
“Oh yes, 100 per cent,” 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 a brilliant team as well.
“If we want to get to the quarter-finals 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.”
Asked how far away Scotland are from being viewed on the same level as the top teams in the world like Ireland and France, Van der Merwe, with no hesitation, said: “Really close, really close.
“We’ve 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’ve showcased what we can do as a team, coming from behind and almost beating France in France. We’ve got a very special group.”
Smith not pinning blame on Ford for England loss
Marcus Smith does not blame England's narrow defeat to New Zealand on Saturday on George Ford, despite his late missed kicks.
Ford replaced Smith, who had scored 17 points and set up England's only try in their 24-22 loss, hitting a potential match-winning penalty against the post before narrowly missing a drop goal.
England had held an eight-point advantage when Smith left the field, but Mark Tele'a's 76th-minute try before Damian McKenzie added five late points proved enough to get the All Blacks over the line.
The hosts' autumn series got off to a losing start as Ford struggled to find his clinical edge in the dying moments, but Smith does not lay any blame at his team-mate's feet.
"Sometimes that's the life of a kicker, we've all experienced that. It's part and parcel of the job," said Smith.
"I've learned so much off George. He's an unbelievable kicker, both off the tee and out of hand. It was one of those days.
"It's nothing to do with him why we didn't win the game. It's a team effort. Every kicker in the world has experienced that.
"We practise [drop-goals] as kickers every single day, but sometimes it doesn't go for you. We're all human and people miss."
Saturday marked a third consecutive narrow loss to New Zealand for England, with their last win an emphatic victory over Japan in June.
Despite that run, Smith remains confident that England can take lessons from these defeats to set themselves up for success in the future.
"International rugby is very different to the Premiership and the experiences we're experiencing now are very painful, but we'll be better for them," Smith added.
"Keep the faith. We've fallen again on the wrong side of the result, but we'll learn from it 100%.
"These experiences will tighten us as a group, and it will be worth it in the long run. We will be better for it."
England 'banging on the door' of rugby's elite, says proud Borthwick
Steve Borthwick reckons England are "banging on the door" of the elite nations after their close loss to New Zealand.
England went down 24-22 to the All Blacks in Saturday's Test match at Twickenham.
Mark Tele'a scored the decisive try for New Zealand, who beat England twice in July, in the 76th minute.
England missed the chance to win it late on when George Ford missed a drop-goal attempt, after he had struck the post with a penalty.
But coach Borthwick, who was immensely proud of his team, feels England showed they are capable of mixing it with the best teams in the world, despite losing four of their last five Tests.
"It is a mixture of immense pride at the performance against a very tough New Zealand team and one of incredible disappointment," Borthwick told BBC Radio 5 Live.
"They are the emotions we balance and will work through over the next few days.
"When we started two years ago we wanted to get England right to the top of world rugby again. You can see the team banging on the door."
With the pre-match build-up having been dominated by Joe Marler's jibe at New Zealand's pre-match haka routine, tries from Tele'a and Will Jordan put New Zealand in control.
Marcus Smith's penalties kept England in contention, though, and he set up the hosts' only try when he intercepted a loose pass and teed up Immanuel Feyi-Waboso.
Yet England ultimately failed to hold on to an eight-point advantage, with Ford having to be consoled by his team-mates after the match.
Next up for England are Australia, with fixtures against South Africa and Japan also in store.
"We really have to find a way of winning these close ones," said captain Jamie George. "We put ourselves in a really good position after 60 minutes.
"Eight points is a lot in Test match rugby but we probably went chasing the game a bit and gave away too many penalties. We have to be smarter in that respect."
England walked up to the halfway line to face the haka, something George explained was planned prior to Marler's comments.
"That was always our plan before Joe's comments but we did it in a respectful way," said George. "I saw a smile on Scott Barrett’s face, I was smiling, and it was done in good spirits."
England aiming to be one of 'world's best' teams, says Earl
England have aspirations of greatness, asserted Ben Earl as he prepares to face New Zealand in a friendly at Twickenham.
The 26-year-old was optimistic about the progress England had made under Steve Borthwick despite registering two losses at the hands of the All Blacks in July.
England will be seeking revenge after losing the second match of the test in a devastatingly close 16-15 defeat. Immanuel Feyi-Waboso had scored a try to put England ahead after scores had been tied 10-10 at half-time, but two penalty kicks from Damian McKenzie ended their hopes.
Earl, however, believes the heartbreak has given his country an opportunity to develop.
“I think it’s an experience all the big teams go through, you have to go through some heartache to get over the line,” he told TNT Sports.
“It just feels like it’s the evolution of all the top teams, and we are a team that wants to be known as a great team, some of the world’s best.
“So we know the heartache is good for a while, but it’s time to go and do it at the right time. We got a glimpse of it against Ireland last year, and we feel we are due one, and we have learnt some really hard lessons over the summer, so we feel we are in a better place for it.
“We have always said you don’t win easily against us and that’s something we have developed over the last 18 months with Steve’s mindset and the boys getting hold of it, and now I feel it’s time to get over the line in one of these big games.”
New Zealand have won their last three matches, having defeated Japan and secured a double over Australia. They struggled against reigning world champions South Africa, however, as they failed to exact revenge on the Springboks in late summer tests falling to defeat twice.
Undoubtedly, the All Blacks still represent some of the best talent in the world, with Earl expected to line up opposite New Zealand’s superstar Wallace Sititi.
“There’s stardust littered all over the pitch isn’t there? There’s some pretty cool match-ups; it just feels like a game that isn’t going to disappoint,” he said.
England won’t be overawed, though. Instead, they aim to make their west London home a fortress for visiting sides to travel to.
“[Twickenham is] a place where we want to be really, really hard to beat. And we’ve always said in the camp, if you want to beat us at Twickenham you are going to have to be over and above the norm,” Earl said.
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