Van der Merwe wants ‘to leave Scotland legacy’

Scotland v. USA: Autumn Nations Series

Edinburgh’s Murrayfield Stadium Kick-off time: Saturday, November 1:40 GMT

Scotland players have been telling their fans for the past ten years how they feel like they are on the verge of something special without breaking through.

Head coach Gregor Townsend has publicly stated that his Scotland side are in “the best position” they have ever been in his eight years in charge, and that expectation is that they will reach heights they have never before.

Three victories and a strong performance in the autumn internationals are generally accepted as a result of Scotland’s performance.

Townsend’s side likely will face the United States, New Zealand, Argentina, and Tonga, but four from four must be the target if they want to fulfill their promise after so many years of kicking their heads off the glass ceiling.

Given that Argentina turned over the All Blacks in the Rugby Championship as recently as August, and the Scots have never defeated New Zealand in their history, that might be considered ambitious.

However, Scotland wants to be considered a contender for the Six Nations, and you can bet that France, Ireland, and England, along with the other teams competing for the title in the coming year, will all be looking for clean sweeps in their respective autumn campaigns.

Duhan van der Merwe, for one, wants to “leave a legacy” as he prepares to play for the USA in Murrayfield on Saturday in his 50th game.

“There is still a lot to give,” he said. The Edinburgh wing said, “I wouldn’t say there is anything I want to achieve individually, but I probably want to look forward to this autumn nations and go and win all four games.”

Have a real go at it if you’re interested in the Six Nations. Over the past few years, we’ve been discussing that. I’ll probably be able to declare I won a Six Nations when I retire.

Prior to the start of this campaign, things are looking better for Scotland than they did for the Six Nations, which had an insanely high injury list that caused serious harm to any chance of winning the title before the action even started to begin.

Huw Jones is the only notable absence from this fall series, with Sione Tuipulotu, Scott Cummings, Kyle Steyn, and all of the others.

12 Scots tasted action in Australia as part of the summer British and Irish Lions tour should also give the group some new confidence.

However, Van der Merwe had a mixed experience. He did not make Andy Farrell’s matchday squad for any of the three Tests against the Wallabies because he had already played all three of the Test series in South Africa in 2021.

The 30-year-old said, “It was obviously bittersweet.”

“Being on that was a very special tour,” she said. Unfortunately, I wasn’t chosen for one of the tests, but I’ll be taking it slowly to make the most of Scotland.

I won’t go into great detail about a single game and say, “You guys didn’t pick me,” and I’m going to try to have my best game. I’ll just go through it game by game to demonstrate my potential.

Since making his Test debut against Georgia in 2020, Van der Merwe has demonstrated what he can do in a Scotland jersey.

In his first Scotland appearance, he scored a try, and he has since won 32 of them in 49 caps to set the record for the try-scorer.

He will have the opportunity to build on that record and have the opportunity to experience a personal milestone that didn’t seem possible when he first started playing rugby in Scotland five years ago.

He said, “It’s an unbelievable feeling.” I never imagined I would be celebrating my 50th when I made my debut back five years ago. For my family and I only have a very special time.

“In 2017, I moved to Edinburgh as a pretty raw player. To have received a few walk-ins and a few lucky tries against England kind of illustrates the hard work I’ve put in over the past few years.