Duhan van der Merwe: 'Going one ahead of Hoggy is pretty special'

Duhan van der Merwe admits it was a relief to break Scotland’s try-scoring record in Uruguay.

The South African-born player scored his 28th international try on his 41st appearance to overtake former team-mate Stuart Hogg as number one on the list.

The 29-year-old felt the need to get the feat out of the way on this summer tour amid the hype around the record after overtaking the likes of Grand Slam winners Ian Smith and Tony Stanger.

The Edinburgh winger wanted to put the focus purely back on performances and victories, although Darcy Graham is only four tries behind and the record might well be interchangeable in the coming years.

Van der Merwe said: “I’m absolutely buzzing. Kyle Rowe made it pretty easy for me to be honest. He had a walk-in and he just gave it to me. It just shows what a good relationship we have in this group.

“Going one ahead of Hoggy is pretty special and hopefully there’s a lot more to come.

“I have never really chased it but when it got to the point of 23, 24, I think you go into the game hoping to score.

“Coming on this tour I was hoping to break the record. So at least I have managed to do that now and the monkey is off the back now.

“So I think I can just go out and enjoy myself and play.”

Van der Merwe’s try put Scotland 19-0 ahead but Uruguay claimed the next 19 points and would have been ahead had it not been for some wayward kicking.

Scotland kicked on though to claim a 31-19 victory – the fourth win of their tour of the Americas – thanks to tries from replacements Patrick Harrison and Pierre Schoeman.

“It was a bit scrappy but fair play to them,” Van der Merwe said. “They were very physical and very good at the breakdown. We just weren’t good enough in the first half.

“We came out second half and spoke about being better and more disciplined. I think we held on to the ball a wee bit more and managed to get points on the board.

“It’s been a brilliant tour, a lot of boys making debuts and more boys getting game time as well.

“Boys will get a lot of confidence from this and going four from four on a summer tour is pretty special, so I think we can build on that.”