The record for Scotland’s top try scorer is under serious threat. Five tries in the opening three rounds of the Six Nations have put Duhan van der Merwe in pole position in the ‘race for 28’.
Just 15 months have passed since Stuart Hogg notched his final Test score and set the mark at 27 tries. Only 12 months prior the former captain finally took possession of the title of Scotland’s top try scorer.
The record had belonged to the Flying Scotsman, Ian Smith, for nearly a century by that point. Great Slam hero Tony Stanger had managed to pull level with his haul of 24 tries in his final Test match, against England in 1998, but couldn’t surpass the winger from the 1920s and 1930s.
With the 2000s being a period that was pretty lacking in Scotland tries, there was seemingly little likelihood of anyone overtaking the duo at the top of the charts.
But when Hogg burst onto the Test arena with a try on his full debut in 2012, and when Finn Russell joined him in 2014, a transformation began in Scotland’s scoring threats.
It’s something that has continued to gather pace in recent years. Nine players who have plied their trade on the international scene in the last decade fill slots in the list of Scotland’s top 15 try scorers of all time.
It’s the contest at the very top – which has been building to a new crescendo since van der Merwe’s debut in 2020 – that is focusing attention on how soon a new record will be in place and just how high it can go.
Since crossing against Georgia in his inaugural appearance for Scotland, Duhan has gone from strength to strength. Below is a tally of all his 37 caps to date, and the tries he's scored for Scotland so far.
2020
- Georgia 🏉
- Wales
- Italy 🏉
- France
- Ireland 🏉
2021
- England 🏉
- Wales
- Ireland
- Italy 🏉 🏉
- France 🏉 🏉
- Australia
- South Africa
- Japan 🏉
2022
- England
- Wales
- France 🏉
- Argentina
- Argentina
- Argentina 🏉 🏉
- Australia
- Fiji 🏉
- New Zealand
- Argentina 🏉
2023
- England 🏉 🏉
- Wales
- France
- Ireland
- Italy 🏉
- France
- France 🏉
- Georgia 🏉 🏉
- South Africa
- Tonga 🏉
- Ireland
2024
- Wales 🏉 🏉
- France
- England 🏉 🏉 🏉
The giant winger faces a real battle with his comparatively diminutive club colleague, Darcy Graham though.
Graham, who made his international debut against Wales in 2018, had a head start, making his Scotland debut two years earlier than van der Merwe and racking up seven tries before Duhan was even off the mark.
There was just a single score between the pair by the end of the 2021 Six Nations. Van der Merwe moved ahead for the first time during the Autumn Nations Series in 2022 – Graham responded with a hat-trick versus Argentina.
When the lead changed again just before the recent World Cup, Darcy took it back – and also joined Smith and Stanger on 24 tries – with no fewer than five tries against Tonga and Romania during the tournament itself.
With Graham out injured, Duhan has grabbed his chance during the current Six Nations. His first-ever tries against Wales were soon followed by his maiden international hat-trick, and a first by a Scot in the Calcutta Cup match.
The first score in that treble against England moved him onto the 24-try mark that had loomed so large for so long in Scottish rugby history.
It took Duhan until his 37th cap to reach this tally, a little slower than Smith (32nd cap) but quicker than Graham (38th), Stanger (52nd) and Hogg (87th).
At 28 years of age and near the peak of his powers, it seems like a question of when, rather than if, van der Merwe breaks the record.
He will be pushed all the way by Graham – who has the advantage of being two years younger and potentially with more Test rugby ahead of him – but as of now it is Duhan who has the best chance of securing a new record and his place in history as Scotland’s top try scorer.
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