Duhan van der Merwe and Cheslin Kolbe rank as the two best wingers in world rugby and, besides being South African-born and raised, both wingers have another thing in common: they love tormenting England.
Kolbe’s step and go to bamboozle England captain Owen Farrell is the stuff of try-scoring legend from the 2019 Springbok World Cup final win in Japan. If Kolbe’s step and go seemed more like an unbroken stride, then Van der Merwe’s step and go is that of a powerhouse bulldozer.
Van der Merwe’s subtle skills are there; he can step and accelerate but it’s the raw strength of Scotland’s greatest South African rugby import that differentiates Van der Merwe from all the very exceptional wingers now playing the game.
France’s Damian Penaud, South Africa’s Kurt-Lee Arendse, New Zealand’s Will Jordan and Mark Talea and Ireland’s Kiwi and Aussie project flyers James Lowe and Mack Hansen are world class, but it is Van der Merwe and Kolbe who get my nod to start in an ideal current Test XV.
Kolbe has been lighting up Japan in the past few months at club level, but at Test level it’s been Van der Merwe winging it with the most wonderful of performances against England at Murrayfield. Van der Merwe scored three tries in Scotland’s 30-21 win, to take him past 190 defenders beaten in his Scotland Test career, according to Opta’s Stats, and past 200 defenders beaten in the three Tests he has played for the British & Irish Lions.
Van der Merwe, the scorer of five tries in his latest three Tests against England, crushed England in the most Jonah Lomu-like display. The greatest compliment one could give Van der Merwe is just how closely he resembled Lomu in full flight at Newlands in the 1995 World Cup semifinal.
Lomu scored four tries in Cape Town and four years later would score another outrageous one against England at Twickenham in the 1999 World Cup. I am blessed that on both occasions, at Newlands and at Twickenham, I had prime viewing of Lomu from the press seats. They are rugby memories that can never be erased.
Unfortunately I wasn’t at Murrayfield on February 24 for Van der Merwe’s hat-trick and I wasn’t at Twickenham last year for his solo effort that won World Rugby’s try of the year. But it doesn’t mean the memory is any less memorable or permanent.
Van der Merwe’s try at Twickenham can’t be watched enough. He gets thrown the ball on his own 10m line, 60m from the England try line. The time of the match is 28 mins and 17 seconds and Scotland are leading 7-5.
In the next 10 seconds he beat seven defenders, withstood an ankle tap and put in a bruising handoff to score the Test try of the year. Van der Merwe, who qualified for Scotland on a three-year residential rule, was picked as soon as he became eligible in 2020 and in his first Six Nations tournament (20/21), he broke Irish legend Brian O’Driscoll’s record of defenders beaten in one tournament.
O’Driscoll had set the bar with 30 until Van der Merwe went one better. His 14 defenders beaten against Tonga at the 2023 World Cup is a Scotland record.
This season he is on course to do even more damage to the record books, including becoming Scotland’s greatest Test try-scorer. Van der Merwe, a product of Outeniqua High in George, played for the SA U-20s and won a Youth Olympic Gold with the South African 7s in Sydney in 2013.
Born and raised in South Africa, his professional rugby career development all happened at Edinburgh in Scotland. We will always claim him as one of ours, given his nationality, but when it comes to Test rugby this giant is more Braveheart than Boer.
