Duhan van der Merwe in action for Scotland against Georgia. Photo: Scottish Rugby website.

South African star helps Scotland bash Georgia

Scotland’s South African-born winger produced an all-round perfect performance to seal a come-from-behind win for his adopted nation.

by Mariette Adams

27-08-2023 12:39

in Rugby World Cup 2023

Duhan van der Merwe in action for Scotland against Georgia. Photo: Scottish Rugby website.

South African winger Duhan van der Merwe scored a brace of tries to guide Scotland to a commanding 33-6 win over Georgia at Murrayfield on Saturday.

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SCOTLAND CALL ON SOUTH AFRICAN CONTINGENT TO OFSET WIN

Scotland wrapped up their Rugby World Cup warm-up campaign with a comprehensive 27-point victory over Georgians, scoring all their points in the second half.

Gregor Townsend’s men were 6-0 behind at the interval but they ran in five unanswered tries in the second period to win 33-6, with wing Duhan van der Merwe grabbing a double to take his Test-match tally to 20.

“Especially first half, Georgia made it really tough for us. They were really physical and put us under pressure,” van der Merwe told Amazon Prime.

“It was important for us to squeeze them up a bit — if our forwards get gain-line then it’s much easier for our backs to go wide.”

Scotland, however, next face a formidable challenge when they take on van der Merwe’s native South Africa, the reigning champions, in their World Cup opener in Marseille on September 10.

The Springboks served notice of their intention to win a fourth men’s global title by beating arch-rivals New Zealand 35-7 in a warm-up match at Twickenham on Friday as the All Blacks suffered the heaviest margin of defeat in their history.

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HOW THE TEAMS LINED UP

Scotland — 15 Ollie Smith, 14 Kyle Steyn, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Sione Tuipulotu, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Ben White, 8 Jack Dempsey, 7 Rory Darge, 6 Jamie Ritchie (captain), 5 Grant Gilchrist, 4 Sam Skinner, 3 WP Nel, 2 Dave Cherry, 1 Jamie Bhatti.
Subs: 16 Ewan Ashman, 17 Rory Sutherland, 18 Javan Sebastian, 19 Scott Cummings, 20 Matt Fagerson, 21 George Horne, 22 Ben Healy, 23 Chris Harris.

Georgia — 15 Davit Niniashvili, 14 Akaki Tabutsadze, 13 Demur Tapladze, 12 Merab Sharikadze (captain), 11 Mirian Modebadze, 10 Luka Matkava, 9 Vasil Lobzhanidze, 8 Tornike Jalaghonia, 7 Mikheil Gachechiladze, 6 Luka Ivanishvili, 5 Konstantin Mikautadze, 4 Lado Chachanidze, 3 Beka Gigashvili, 2 Shalva Mamukashvili, 1 Mikheil Nariashvili.
Subs: 16 Tengiz Zamtaradze, 17 Guram Gogichashvili, 18 Guram Papidze, 19 Lasha Jaiani, 20 Sandro Mamamtavrishvili, 21 Gela Aprasidze, 22 Tedo Abzhandadze, 23 Giorgi Kveseladze.