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Wales Online
Wales Online
Sport
Dylan James

Duhan van der Merwe produces 'best-ever aerial finish' as Six Nations commentary team stunned

Scotland winger Duhan van der Merwe produced a marvellous airborne finish against Italy in the Six Nations.

The 27-year-old got Super Saturday scoring off to a quite literal flying start in Edinburgh. With just 11 minutes on the clock and the Azzurri 3-0 up, Gregor Townsend's Scotland received a penalty in the opposition 22 and decided to go for a tap-and-go.

Centre Huw Jones picked up a loose ball and peeled around the outside of the Italian defensive line, before pinging a pass into the hands of van der Merwe. The South Africa-born wing had the whitewash in his sights but also had four Italian defenders haring down on him.

Paolo Garbisi was the only player who got there in time, giving the burly number 11 a big shove into touch. In real time to the naked eye, it looked like the Scot was indeed in touch, but upon review, TV footage showed the winger's remarkable skill in slow motion. He managed to lift both feet off the floor and dot the ball down with one hand, all while his aerial body was outside the field of play.

The BBC commentary team of Andrew Cotter, Sam Warburton and Chris Paterson were taken aback by his piece of skill.

"His feet were in the west stand as he got that ball down!" said Cotter.

"That's the best aerial finish I've ever seen in my life," said former Scotland international Paterson. "To the naked eye I thought that was no try, I thought there was no way he's got that down under pressure, but what a finish from the left winger."

Warburton said: "The one hand impresses me because it can be greasy out there. They water the pitch in the morning, so to do that with one hand, so many times we've seen players that can slip out. But you can see how big his paw is, just the one hand mitt just putting that down. That is great dexterity."

Former Scotland back-rower John Barclay added from the studio: "Secret gymnast, maybe!"

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