How an Englishman saved England slayer Van der Merwe

Guinness Men's Six Nations: England v Scotland

Venue: Allianz Stadium, Twickenham Date: Saturday, 22 February Kick-off: 16:45 GMT

Coverage: Listen on BBC Radio 5 Live & BBC Sounds, live text and highlights on BBC Sport website and app; watch on ITV1

Whether blasting over from six metres or thundering in from 60, Duhan van der Merwe has scored more times against England than any other player in the history of the Six Nations.

He's battered Owen Farrell and Billy Vunipola out of his road, he's eluded five defenders in one momentous play at Twickenham two years ago, and three more in another.

He scored the only try in a five-point game in 2021, he scored the winning try in a six-point game in 2023, and his 44-minute hat-trick last year put Scotland into a lead they never looked like giving up.

Six Calcutta Cup tries in total and five in his last two appearances in the game. And one stands out to pretty much everybody, not least a former coach.

Richard Cockerill was on the England coaching ticket in 2023, a man with a special perspective on the dangers of Duhan, given it was he who signed the South Africa-born winger for Edinburgh in 2017.

"I told the boys 'don't kick long', but they kicked long and the freak ran it in from his own half," the former England hooker and ex-Edinburgh head coach says.

Saturday will be Van der Merwe's return to the scene of one of his greatest moments, an odyssey that saw him speed and fend his way past Joe Marchant, Ollie Chessum, Freddie Steward, Jack van Poortvliet and Alex Dombrandt before touching down under the England posts.

"I said, 'if you kick loosely, he'll cause damage', but nobody listens to me," says Cockerill, laughing, kind of.

Cockerill is a good man to talk to when assessing Scotland's colossus out wide, all 6ft 4in and 16st stone of him.

Since he qualified on the residency rule in late 2020, Van der Merwe has become Scotland's record try-scorer with 31 in 46 - and for that Cockerill is owed a debt.

A bit of back story first. Van der Merwe hails from George in the Western Cape. He played and scored for South Africa Under-18s against England in 2013, then played against England again in 2014 in the Junior World Cup final.

He started on the bench - as did the now Scottish loosehead, Pierre Schoeman - against a team captained by Maro Itoje.

England won by a point, but it was the last time the wing lost to them. He's four out of four in the blue of Scotland.

Van der Merwe should have been a Springbok, but life didn't work out that way. He joined the Blue Bulls, picked up some injuries, lost some form and then moved to Montpellier, where the same unhappy story unfolded.

And that brings us back to Cockerill, head coach of Edinburgh at the time.

"We signed him for not a lot of money, but he had this hip issue," he said. "There was a problem with the cartilage in his hip and he failed his medical. He needed surgery. He was going to be missing for three or four months.

"I'm thinking, 'Well, he's going to be good and he's not expensive, let's look after him and over time that breeds trust and loyalty'.

"Some members of the SRU said, 'He's not fit, he's failed his medical, so we shouldn't keep him. He's effectively in breach of contract'.

"It was madness. Some at Murrayfield would not have had him because he was injured, but a little patience and he's turned out to be one of the best in the world."

Cockerill saved the SRU from itself. Of course, the irony of an Englishman fighting for a player who's been the slayer of England is not lost on him. The whole thing appeals to his sense of devilment.

But there was more to it than just signing Van der Merwe. There was developing him, too. And he needed some amount of developing.

There are still aspects of his game that are far from world class - defence, work-rate, ability in the air. He seems to save his best stuff for Test rugby, which can be a bugbear of Edinburgh fans.

But, when he's on, boy, he's unplayable.

"He understands the game better now than he did before," Cockerill said. "He's turned into more of a complete player, but back then it was just raw pace - and you can't coach speed, can you?

"In the early stages with Edinburgh, he was very wooden. Finishing wasn't a problem, but understanding the game defensively needed improving, to say the least.

"Catching the ball was a problem. At the start, when the the ball was in the air, you were closing your eyes and hoping he'd catch it.

"The boys used to take the mickey out of him because, you know, he's not going to win any crossword competitions. But put a rugby ball in his hands and watch out."

Can Cockerill remember how he felt when sitting with the England management at Twickenham as Van der Merwe received the ball in space in his own half just before that try in 2023? Oh yes.

Can he repeat his words here and now? Oh no.

"Put it this way, I thought we were in a little bit of bother, but I might have used slightly different language at the time," he says.

Such was the jaw-dropping nature of what Van der Merwe did, that great Hugh McIlvanney line about George Best came to mind.

"What was the time of that goal?" asked a young reporter in the Manchester United press box. "Never mind the time, son," said an older voice beside him. "Just write down the date."

Van der Merwe wasn't just content in scoring one remarkable try that day. He added a second late on, getting on the end of a lethal, multi-phased Scotland attack from deep in their own half.

It's the solo run that people remember the most, though.

"I knew he was capable of doing that," Cockerill says. "You look at some of the great wings, or the great strikers in football, they can do nothing all day, they can almost look disinterested. Then, one sniff and it's over.

"That's the thing with Duhan, he has a fantastic ability to give you something from nothing. A fella drops off a tackle and he'll finish from 70. Somebody drops a ball on halfway and he's gone. There aren't many who can do that.

"A lot of that is natural athleticism, but he's worked bloody hard on his game as well."

And England, you fancy, have been working bloody hard, too. They'll have had enough of Van der Merwe and his tries from another planet, but how to keep him grounded is a question they have dismally failed to answer up to now.