Winger’s double wins it for Scots
Van der Merwe seals back-to-back Twickenham victories for first time in rugby’s oldest international fixture
Duhan van der Merwe scored an early contender for try of the tournament and went over for the match-clincher as Scotland beat England 29-23 in the Six Nations to continue their recent dominance of the Calcutta Cup yesterday.
The winger’s 75th-minute try in the left corner sealed a fourth victory in Scotland’s last six matches against their auld enemy, ruining the first game in charge of England for new coach Steve Borthwick.
It marked the first time Scotland have secured back-to-back wins at Twickenham in rugby’s oldest international fixture that dates to 1871.
But it was Van der Merwe’s stunning first try — scored in the 29th minute after he set off from inside his own half — that illuminated an errorriddled and often chaotic match.
Van der Merwe burst through two players in England’s defensive line then shrugged off five would-be tacklers — including two weak efforts near the tryline — to go over for a sensational try that might not be bettered over the next seven weeks of action.
“As a winger you don’t get a lot of opportunities to score so I needed to take them,” he said.
“I was quite surprised how I got my first but I will take that one all day long.”
Huw Jones set Scotland on their way with a 15th-minute try from fellow center Sione Tuipulotu’s grubber kick, only for England to reply with two tries by winger Max Malins in the first half and another from prop Ellis Genge after halftime.
England were their own worst enemy as they sought to eke out victory in the second half, with a dropped restart by No 8 Alex Dombrandt after Genge’s try in the 49th giving Scotland the platform to reply through a try from Ben White — via a missed tackle by England flanker Ben Curry — and leave the boys in blue only 20-19 behind.
Owen Farrell’s penalty made it 23-19 but, again, England’s errors allowed opposite first five eighth Finn Russell to boot his own penalty to leave the Scots trailing 23-22 and give them hope.
Van der Merwe made the English pay with a winning try — and a bonus point for his team — as he cut in off the left wing and through two challengers to score at the end of a sweeping move that began down the right and inside Scotland’s half.
Scotland are unbeaten on their last three trips to Twickenham, a stadium where England strolled to a string of unbroken, mostly comfortable wins
Duhan van der Merwe was in the game. And, then again, he was not in the game.
Poor marking by the big Scotland winger allowed his slinky England opposite Max Malins to score his first test try in their Six Nations opener at Twickenham.
For most of the first half-hour, Van der Merwe was on the periphery of a kickfest.
Then the ball came to him, courtesy of an England clearance kick caught by fellow wing Kyle Steyn just inside his half.
Van der Merwe sized up the onrushing English from about 60 metres out and accelerated.
He blew past centre Joe Marchant on halfway, busted through Ollie
from 1991-2017.
“We are ultimately disappointed — we just weren’t good enough,” England lock Maro Itoje said. “Fair play to Scotland. There were a few things we got wrong as a team but we can
Chessum’s attempted arm trip and was in the clear.
His swerve left Freddie Steward grasping at air on the England 22, then a wrong-footed Jack van Poortvliet could get only an arm on him.
But Van der Merwe was slowed down. Alex Dombrandt tried to scrag the winger high but Van der Merwe fended him off to clear free again and finally plunged over the tryline untouched.
He gave a quick uppercut for Scotland fans before he was enveloped by teammates amazed to have witnessed one of the great Six Nations tries.
In the TV analysts’ booth, former England coach Sir Clive Woodward was going, “Wow, wow, wow.”
fix them.
“There were a few penalties in the middle third and that kept us in our half.”
There remains plenty to fix for Borthwick, who has taken charge
“I just saw the space in front of me (and) managed to finish it off,” Van der Merwe said. “When I got up I was quite surprised as well.”
Scotland coach Gregor Townsend likened the stunning solo score to one of those seen in the 1990s video game named for New Zealand great Jonah Lomu.
“It was incredible, wasn’t it? It reminded me of when, for everybody of a certain age, you played Jonah Lomu Rugby and suddenly one person can go quicker,” Townsend said.
“That first try was amazing, and one that gets the Scotland supporters going crazy in the stand and silences everyone else because you don’t see tries like that very often.”
after England’s seven years under Eddie Jones and with eight months to go until the World Cup.
“There is some stuff we need to get better at,” Farrell said. “For now, we will give credit to Scotland for sticking
Malins bagged a second try soon after but Van der Merwe had the last say.
At the end of a sweeping move, he cut inside two defenders and carried Malins over the line for the matchwinning try five minutes from the end of a classic contest that Scotland snatched 29-23.
South Africa-born Van der Merwe made a try-scoring debut for Scotland in 2020, after qualifying on residency.
He scored the only try in Scotland’s historic 2021 win at Twickenham and has collected 16 in 24 tests. But his brilliant solo effort was the most special yet.
“I’ll take that one any time of the day,” he said. at it like they did. They played well and scored that try in the end but it never felt like we went away, we caused them some problems and we’ll make sure we build on it.”