Shortly after he landed in South Africa as a British and Irish Lion three years ago, Duhan van der Merwe found himself on the receiving end of a few sly digs and verbal potshots.
Before he and the rest of the Lions had even made it through passport control at Johannesburg airport, it was clear that Van der Merwe was to be cast in the role of Public Enemy No 1 for the duration of the tour.
A former youth international with South Africa at Under-20 level, and born and raised in the Western Cape, the Springbok rugby public didn’t care much for him returning home as a Lion and sporting the famous red jersey.
Van der Merwe was name-checked in a Springbok social media video which welcomed the Lions to their country in various languages.
RG Snyman, a former youth team-mate of Van der Merwe’s, cheekily suggested the Scotland winger could translate the Afrikaans part of the message.
Despite representing the Springoks at Under-20 level, Van der Merwe now has over 40 caps for Scotland
Van der Merwe failed to fire in Scotland’s group match against South Africa at the World Cup
Speaking at the time, prior to the first Test in Cape Town, Van der Merwe said: ‘In any game you play, you’ll always get some verbal abuse.
‘People getting stuck into you, I’m pretty used to it. I know I’ll get a few boys holding on to me, pushing me here and there.
‘People can say what they want to say. If you look into those bits, it will get to you. I’m not bothered, I’ll just go out there and do my thing.’
The South Africans have been at it once again this week, with centre Andre Esterhuizen taking a pop at the South African-born members of the Scotland squad.
Chief among them, of course, is Van der Merwe, as well as Pierre Schoeman and Dylan Richardson. Glasgow Warriors captain Kyle Steyn would be another so-called ‘Jock Bok’ had he not been ruled out by injury.
On the notion of South Africans moving abroad to play for another nation, Esterhuizen said: ‘I’d much rather have my 18 caps for the Springboks than 70 caps for a different country that I’m not actually born in.’
Shots fired. As much as Gregor Townsend struck a diplomatic tone when asked about those comments on Thursday, there’s clearly a bit of needle on both sides.
When the teams met in the opening game of the World Cup in Marseille last year, there wasn’t much in the way of verbals. Neither side wanted to bite any time they were asked about it.
But Esterhuizen’s comments clearly show the disdain in which the likes of Van der Merwe and Schoeman are held by the country in which they grew up.
They view it as an affront that someone should choose to leave South Africa to go and play for another country. Treachery and treason in the rugby world.
It certainly makes for a delicious sub-plot heading into today’s blockbuster at Murrayfield, with Van der Merwe and Schoeman certain to be on the end of some rough treatment. But why does it always seem to be Scotland, probably more than any other nation, who are on the receiving end of these potshots about players who qualify through family or residency?
The winger might be Scotland’s record try-scorer, on 29, but he is yet to touch down against the Boks
Van der Merwe played all three British and Irish Lions tests against South Africa in 2021
When Ireland won the Grand Slam last year, they had three New Zealanders and an Australian in their starting line-up. That hardly rated a mention.
The All Blacks and the Wallabies pluck players from nations in the Pacific Islands, so it’s not like this is an issue exclusive to Scotland.
Yet, more often than not, Scotland seems to be the country which is criticised and ridiculed more than others for their use of foreign imports. Part of that is down to the fact that the SRU’s youth pathway system dried up long ago. In an ideal world, Test rugby would be the best of ours against the best of theirs.
But the game has moved past that now. The genie is out of the bottle. Most countries utilise foreign imports. It’s just part of rugby.
Listen, nobody would question Esterhuizen’s comments as being fundamentally true. If anyone was given the choice of representing their country of birth or moving elsewhere, it’s a no-brainer.
But that’s the crux of it. Van der Merwe and Schoeman were never given that choice. They were deemed not good enough and chose to pursue their career elsewhere.
South Africa is a nation of 65 million people. Rugby is a national obsession. They can’t all grow up to become Springboks. Some will slip through the net and move abroad.
That’s their prerogative. It’s certainly not a stick that should be used to beat them. The same applies to the likes of WP Nel, Josh Strauss, Allan Dell and all of the other South Africans to have played for Scotland.
More than anything, today’s clash at Murrayfield offers Van der Merwe and Schoeman a chance to make Esterhuizen and the Boks eat their words.
The same will apply to Richardson, Scotland’s replacement hooker who has won only a handful of caps since his debut in 2021, and, like Van der Merwe, represented South Africa Under-20s.
Indeed, it is the make-up of the two respective benches that looks like it could be the area of greatest concern for Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend.
South Africa’s bench, loaded with a seven-one split, has 395 caps worth of experience. By contrast, Scotland’s bench, where Townsend has gone with a six-two split, has a total of 119 caps.
The Springbok bench features an embarrassment of riches. They have a two-time World Cup-winning captain in Siya Kolisi, as well as a former World Player of the Year in Pieter-Steph du Toit.
Van der Merwe has the chance to show South Africa that they could have utilised his talents better
In contrast, six of the eight players on Scotland’s bench are still on single digits in terms of caps. That is illustrative of the challenge that awaits Townsend’s side.
He stated on Friday that a match against the Springboks is currently the ultimate test in world rugby. By winning the last two World Cups, he feels they have raised the bar to a new level.
In Rassie Erasmus, he was fulsome in his praise for someone he views as the greatest coach of his generation.
Erasmus can be the pantomime villain with some of his antics and comments on social media, but he’s also an outstanding rugby tactician and motivator.
He consistently finds ways for the Springboks to reinvent themselves. Not content by winning each of the last two World Cups, they followed that by winning this year’s Rugby Championship.
Finn Russell struggled against the Boks’ blitz at the World Cup and will need him top of his game
They are an absolute juggernaut, one which is now headed straight for Murrayfield to unleash their unique brand of power and aggression on Scotland.
In Marseille last year, Townsend’s side had no answer. In the end, they scored just three points in a tame defeat.
They barely fired a shot as South Africa won 18-3, with Finn Russell looking unsure of how to deal with the constant line speed and pressure from the Boks’ blitz.
If Scotland are to and a run of eight straight defeats against South Africa, and claim what would be their biggest win of Townsend’s seven-year tenure, they need Russell to be at the peak of his powers.
Likewise Van der Merwe, who extended his record as Scotland’s all-time leading try scorer in last week’s rout of Fiji.
He now has 29 tries in 42 caps since making his Scotland debut four years ago in the autumn of 2020.
Although South Africa are not exactly short of weapons themselves, there’s perhaps just a slight element of resentment and jealousy that they don’t have a player quite like Van der Merwe.
Given all the jibes that have been aimed his way, both this week and on that Lions tour three years ago, this would be a perfect moment for Van der Merwe to show the Boks what they’ve missed out on.
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