Duhan van der Merwe

Originally of South African descent, Duhan van der Merwe is now a giant of Scottish rugby and a firm favourite of the tartan army.

Duhan van der Merwe was born in the Western Cape province of South Africa on 4 June 1995 and began playing rugby at school. During a long and illustrious youth career, he won a number of tournaments with the SWD Eagles and regularly appeared for the South Africa Schools team.

At the end of his school career, Duhan van der Merwe joined the Blue Bulls academy and played for the South Africa U20 team at the 2014 IRB Junior World Championship in New Zealand. After appearing for several Blue Bulls junior teams, he finally made an appearance for the first team in 2016. However, he only featured twice before he left for Montpellier.

Sadly, Duhan van der Merwe’s time with Montpellier didn’t go to plan and he left at the end of the 2017 season due to a recurring hip injury and difficulties adjusting to the French culture and language. During his spell with Montpellier, he only made four appearances for the first team.

Following this, Duhan van der Merwe signed a contract with Edinburgh. In spite of missing the first half of the season, he went on to become an integral member of the side. Since, he’s made more than 70 appearances for the club.

In October 2020, after a string of impressive performances for Edinburgh, Duhan van der Merwe was selected for Scotland for the first time after completing a three-year residency period. Again, his impact was immediate. He scored a try on his debut and added another two before the end of the year. Then, in 2021, he scored the decisive try in Scotland’s victory over England in the opening match of the 2021 Six Nations Championship. He followed this with two tries against Italy and two more against France.

Due to his incredible performances for Scotland, Duhan van der Merwe was selected for the British and Irish Lions tour of South Africa in 2021.

Still relatively young and with plenty more to offer on the international stage, we can’t wait to see what Duhan van der Merwe does next.