Duhan van der Merwe's big decision, Scottish Rugby's dilemma and unfinished business in France

France has the richest league in Europe so the Top 14 would be the obvious destination if the Edinburgh and Scotland winger wants to maximise his earnings. Van der Merwe turns 30 next June and may feel that his next contract is his opportunity to land one really big last deal.

Ronan O’Gara’s La Rochelle have been credited with an interest and so too have Bayonne and Lyon. All have deep pockets and if one or more were to make a concrete offer it would create a dilemma for Scottish Rugby. Should they be breaking the bank to keep this guy when there is a £10 million black hole in the union’s finances?

The Murrayfield hierarchy pushed the boat out to bring van der Merwe ‘home’ two years ago after Worcester Warriors went bust and the national team have reaped the benefits. Edinburgh less so, it could be argued. Of the 27 tries scored by the winger since he came back to the capital in October 2022, 16 have been for Scotland and 11 for Edinburgh.

Van der Merwe has a happy knack of scoring against England in particular: a hat-trick at home last season, a double away the year before and the only try of the game in the historic victory at Twickenham in 2021, Scotland’s first at English HQ since 1983. The latter came during van der Merwe’s first spell with Edinburgh.

All this is worth bearing in mind as Scottish Rugby weighs up its options. Having him on the SRU payroll allows him to be ‘managed’ in a way that optimises his performances for the national team. He will be rested for Edinburgh games when appropriate, something that would be unthinkable were he playing in the Top 14.

Gregor Townsend is entitled to cast an envious eye to Ireland and note how successful their national side has become by keeping all their players in the country. Having them playing together regularly and managed so they are fresh throughout the season helps cohesion and means they are ready for those big ticket occasions in the Six Nations or World Cup.

But the national coach also knows that exposure to a new environment and arguably a higher standard of rugby can help a player’s development. Townsend himself benefited from his time playing in France and Blair Kinghorn’s experience with Toulouse has brought the best out of the former Edinburgh full-back.

There are downsides, too. Townsend has spoken in the past of those based in France having to play on Sunday nights before Scotland camps and missing training sessions and team meetings. And when they do arrive they can be carrying niggling injuries or worse.

From the player’s perspective, van der Merwe is entitled to look at Kinghorn’s experience and decide he too wants a slice of that action. The latter has been in France for less than a year and has already won the Champions Cup and Top 14. Of course, it helps that Kinghorn is playing for one of top clubs in the world but van der Merwe will be acutely aware that La Rochelle are serious contenders and were back-to-back European champions in 2022-23. He may see this as a chance to develop his own game and could also feel that he has unfinished business in France.

Before joining Edinburgh in 2017, van der Merwe spent a mostly unhappy season with Montpellier, which was blighted by a persistent hip injury. He struggled to settle in France and it was only when he moved to Edinburgh that his game developed under a coaching team that played to his strengths. He averaged almost a try every two games in his first spell at the club.

Sean Everitt, the Edinburgh coach, said at the weekend that he desperately wanted to hang on to van der Merwe but the final decision will rest with the player who becomes a free agent in the summer.

Things didn’t fire for him last season at club level. He scored three tries in the URC and four in the Challenge Cup as the Edinburgh attack struggled to come alive. He often cut an isolated figure on the wing, waiting for the pass that never came.

Moves were made over the summer to pep up Edinburgh. Scott Mathie was appointed attack and backs coach and Ross Thompson, Mosese Tuipulotu and Matt Scott were all recruited. The return from injury of Darcy Graham will also help and van der Merwe spoke last month with enthusiasm about the campaign ahead.

“We’ve got some really exciting backs and we believe that if we can get the ball out wide more, hopefully we can score more tries,” he said. “We’re working really hard at that and hopefully… we can pull the trigger a bit more and the wingers and 13 and 15 can get a bit more ball.”

A double in the narrow loss to Leinster on the opening night of the URC season was a promising start but there have been no tries since and van der Merwe again saw little of the ball in Saturday’s otherwise excellent win over the Stormers. But that is a minor gripe given the importance of the victory and the feeling that Edinburgh might now have turned a corner.

There is no denying that van der Merwe has played his best rugby while with the capital club which is sure to influence his decision on his future. He got married last year, feels settled here, is among friends at Edinburgh and also has business interests in the city, setting up a whisky company with Pierre Schoeman. It’s a lot to give up and Scotland’s all-time leading try-scorer has a big decision ahead of him.