The numbers behind Duhan van der Merwe's try-scoring record

The national team's win percentage in the matches Duhan has played in, but not scored is 29%. When he bags a try it is 80%.

Here are some more of the key stats behind his record-breaking 28-try tally.

Assists

• Six: Finn Russell
• Four: Unassisted
• Three: Huw Jones, Blair Kinghorn
• Two: Adam Hastings, Ali Price
• One (backs): Chris Harris, Ben Healy, Kyle Rowe, Kyle Steyn
• One (forwards): Matt Fagerson, Sam Skinner, George Turner, Hamish Watson

Twenty of Duhan’s tries have been assisted by backs (with 11 from stand offs the most by any position), four by forwards and four unassisted.

Among Scotland’s backs, Ali Price, Finn Russell and Sione Tuipulotu have each started alongside Duhan in 11 of the 20 games that he has scored tries in.

Maybe the real key is Jamie Ritchie though – the flanker has played in 18 of van der Merwe’s scoring Tests.

Opponents

• 6 – England
• 4 – France, Italy
• 3 – Argentina, Georgia
• 2 – Wales
• 1 – Fiji, Ireland, Japan, Tonga, Uruguay, USA

The giant winger has notched 13 tries at Murrayfield, 14 away from home (with three at Twickenham making it his second favourite stadium) and one at a neutral venue.

Duhan van der Merwe leaves England's Ollie Chessum sprawling on his way to a stunning solo try in the 2023 Calcutta Cup win at Twickenham (Image: PA)

Milestone scores

• 1 - 1st Test
• 5 - 9th Test
• 10 - 16th Test
• 15 - 24th Test
• 20 - 31st Test
• 25 - 37th Test
• 27 (equalling Stuart Hogg's record) - 40th Test
• 28 - 41st Test

It took Stuart Hogg 96 international games to bring up his 27th try.

Duhan crosses for the record-breaking 28th try in Montevideo (Image: Scottish Rugby/Getty Images)

Duhan van der Merwe matched that milestone in just his 40th appearance for Scotland – and surpassed it in his 41st.

Tries by year

• 2020: Three
• 2021: Six
• 2022: Five
• 2023: Seven
• 2024: Seven (so far...)

The Scottish record for tries in a calendar year currently stands at eight and is held jointly by Ian Smith (1925), Alan Tait (1999) and Darcy Graham (2023).

Time of tries

• 0-9 mins: Two
• 10-19 mins: Five
• 20-29 mins: Eight
• 30-39 mins: None
• 40-49 mins: Five
• 50-59 mins: One
• 60-69 mins: Two
• 70-79 mins: Five

Duhan’s earliest try was with 5m 10s on the clock against USA in 2024. His latest score was after 84m 40s against France in 2021.

The try against USA was the earliest Duhan van der Merwe had crossed in a match for Scotland (Image: Getty Images)

The longest gap between tries was 312 minutes of game time from his early five-pointer versus Japan in the 2021 Autumn Nations Series to his late consolation against France during the 2022 Six Nations.

The shortest gap between tries was 9m 47s, between his first and second against England at Murrayfield in 2024.

On average, he has scored one try for every 114 minutes of Test rugby that he has played.

Miscellany:

• 71% of his tries have been successfully converted, lower than the 77% rate for all other scores since his debut.
• More than half of his record tally have started from lineouts (13 Scotland takes and two steals on opposition throw), with six from kicks, four from turnovers, two from tap penalties and just a single one which began with a scrum.
• Nine tries have been scored in the first phase of possession with the longest being the 23-phase epic to win in Paris.
• A total of 19 of his tries started in the opposition half (10 in their 22), with the other nine beginning in Scotland’s territory (two from their own 22).
• Only 12 players in history have scored more points for Scotland Men than the 140 van der Merwe has racked up in the last four years.