Duhan van der Merwe is a once in a lifetime talent - Robertson

Off the field, I love his outlook on life and he always has a big smile on his face.

He kindly made a video message for a friend of mine during the 2023 World Cup from the Scotland training camp in France and he always finds time to sign autographs for the fans.

I have watched him hit the ball a mile on the golf course and a friend of mine from another newspaper outside Scotland talked warmly of his hospitality when he came up to interview him in Edinburgh.

I tell you all this up front because what I am about to say isn’t personal and I am delighted for him that he broke the Scotland try-scoring record with his touchdown - his 28th at international level - against Uruguay.

Duhan van der Merwe scores his record-breaking 28th try for Scotland against Uruguay (Image: Getty Images)

What bothers me is that the record has fallen to a player who qualified through residency. I would much rather a player who came through the Scottish system had made history instead.

Don’t get me wrong it is a fantastic achievement by the big winger who was born in South Africa and spent the first 21 years of his life there. He didn’t become eligible to play for Scotland until he was 25 back in 2020. Twenty-eight tries in 41 matches at international level since is impressive.

Can you imagine how many tries he would have scored for Scotland if he had been able to make his debut any earlier? 

I feel sorry for him that he didn’t break the try scoring record at Murrayfield in front of a big crowd and instead did it in Montevideo where there were only a handful of Scottish fans. 

He is such an unstoppable talent that an analysis of his tries scored shows that he can break down the best defences in the world.

He has scored six tries against England, four against France and Italy, three against Argentina and Georgia and two against Wales. He has scored one try against Ireland, Fiji, Tonga, Japan, USA and Uruguay.

My problem as a rugby traditionalist- someone who reluctantly accepted that players could play for Scotland after three years living here if they had no blood link - is that I would have loved to have had a homegrown Scot take the record that was previously held by Stuart Hogg.

Stuart Hogg broke the try-scoring record with this score against Japan in 2021 (Image: SNS)

I wanted it to be broken by someone who grew up dreaming of playing for Scotland rather than South Africa. Why does that matter? 

Someone who came through the Scottish system taking the try-scoring record would have given young Scots at school someone they can relate to. A person they think they can emulate. Someone who came through the same rugby pathway system as they are about to step out on. 

The other two important Scotland men’s rugby records are held by two Borderers who always dreamed of wearing the thistle.

Ross Ford has a record 110 caps and Chris Paterson tops the points scored total with 809. That they reached the top after starting out at local Scottish state schools hopefully inspired the next generation of young Scottish rugby players.

I am not going down the road to suggest Duhan isn’t a true Scot as he has made this country his home but in rugby terms that is up for debate. His brother Akker, a hooker with the Bulls, played three times for South Africa. Duhan’s dream - quite rightly as he grew up in the city of George in the Western Cape - was to play for the Springboks. 

He came close to fulfilling his ambition by playing for South African age-grade teams and being part of the South Africa under-20 squad in the 2014  Junior World Championship in New Zealand before drifting out of the picture.

Club wise he started out at the Bulls in Pretoria moving to Montpellier in 2016 and then joined Edinburgh a year later.

He qualified for Scotland after three years residency and scored a try on his international debut against Georgia before moving to Worcester Warriors in 2021. He returned to Edinburgh the following year after Worcester went bust.

Duhan van der Merwe celebrates a try on his Scotland debut against Georgia (Image: SNS)

I know that 1925 Grand Slam legend Ian Smith who first set the Scotland try record was born in Australia but he had Scottish parents and studied at Edinburgh University. His try-scoring record was remarkable. In 32 matches for Scotland, he scored 24 times.

Tony Stanger from Hawick equalled that figure with his most famous try being his touchdown that helped beat England in the winner-takes-all all 1990 Grand Slam match at Murrayfield. He got 24 tries in 52 games.

Then along came another Hawick man Darcy Graham who reached the 24 mark in 39 internationals before being hit by injury.

There is clearly something in the water in Hawick when it comes to scoring tries as Hogg beat the lot reaching 27 tries in 100 games. That is where the record was set at until Duhan came along and beat it.

He had 26 tries from 38 matches before he travelled on the summer tour and equalled Hogg’s record with a score against the USA before bettering it against Uruguay.

Unless Darcy Graham returns to full fitness and goes on a try scoring spree or Hogg plays well enough for Montpellier to return to the international scene it is hard to see how anybody will catch Duhan’s total for many years to come.

Darcy Graham is the nearest challenger to Duhan van der Merwe's try record (Image: SNS)

He is 29 years old and provided he remains injury free has at least three very good years left in him yet at international level.

Can you imagine how many more tries he can run in for Scotland before he retires?

World Rugby has now increased the residency limit from three to five years so the likes of Duhan won’t find it easy to switch international allegiances which is a good thing as it puts pressure on national unions to produce more of their own players but it will take a while before a homegrown Scot comes close to matching van der Merwe’s try-scoring record.