Duhan van der Merwe’s try against Italy was hailed on Saturday night by Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend as one of the most spectacular finishes ever witnessed at Murrayfield, but the winger argues that it was not even his best score of this Six Nations championship.
As far as van der Merwe is concerned, his 60-yard solo effort against England in round one easily trumps that acrobatic dive into the corner as Scotland finished their campaign with a 26-14 home win over Italy.
“We’ve actually been practicing it over the last eight weeks because the rules now are that you can hit the corner flag and still score as long as you get the ball down in the in-goal area before any [art of your body lands on the other side of the line,” he said. “So, I think being in that position, having practiced it a lot recently, made it a lot easier when I was in the moment.
“Whereas the one from Twickenham is just so special and it’s one I’ll never forget. That’s probably the best one I’ve ever scored in my life. I don’t think I’ll top it, but we’ll see!”
That try and the hat-trick scored by Blair Kinghorn were highlights of a generally workmanlike performance by Scotland on Saturday, however van der Merwe insisted that the team would draw encouragement from bouncing back afater a couple of frustrating defeats against France away and Ireland at home to secure a bonus-point win when not at the best.
“That is probably the best Italian team we have faced in many years,” he reasoned. “They didn’t make it easy for us. The last three, four minutes, it was quite stressful because it could have gone either way. But we’re a tight bunch of boys, we stuck it out and got the opportunity with a scrum on our own line – then we backed ourselves and decided to run the length, so we’re really happy with that.
“I think it’s been very successful Six Nations although we always believe we can do better.”
Van der Merwe will now return to club duty with Edinburgh and says he is looking forward to renewing his working relationship with Steve Diamond, his former director of rugby at Worcester Warriors who has been recruited by the capital club as a ‘rugby consultant’ to assist head coach Mike Blair for the remainder of the season.
“People think and say he’s like Cockers [former Edinburgh head coach Richard Cockerill], but he’s not, he’s very chilled and relaxed and I got on with him really well, so I’m looking forward to seeing him on Monday,” said van der Merwe.
