'Special guy': Duhan van der Merwe's unusual Scotland debut and the story behind it

The game was played at an empty Murrayfield and Duhan scored his first international try in a 48-7 win.

Normally when you get your first cap, all the players go upstairs for the post-match meal and then the Scottish Rugby president calls you up to the stage and presents you with the cap and puts it on your head.

Because of Covid, that couldn't happen. Van der Merwe and Oli Kebble were both making their debuts so what we did that year - and we didn't tell either of them in advance - was that we got all of their families on a Zoom call.

A unique moment

So we came into the changing room after the game and we did all the bits and pieces you always do around recovery and had a quick chat. And then I presented them with their caps but we had all their families up on the big TV screen in the changing room.

So it was actually a unique and quite special moment for them and their families, and for me as well because I think I was one of the first captains to present caps to new Scotland players.

The game probably wasn't the greatest rugby spectacle. It was wet and it was pretty horrible and I think our backs touched the ball 10 times in the entire match. The forwards probably had about 100 carries between them.

It was a typical game against Georgia - very physical, very set-piece orientated.

It was interesting being on the same side as Duhan. We’d played against him a lot for Glasgow versus Edinburgh and there had always been a little bit of spark, a little bit of fight between the sides, particularly with the players that you didn't really know. We obviously recognised what an important player Duhan was for Edinburgh.

And then there's always a little bit of uncertainty when you come into a Scotland camp of not knowing how well they’ll fit in. I think it was clear within a day how well Duhan would fit in. It was pretty obvious what a special guy he was.

And now, obviously, he’s Scotland’s men’s record try-scorer and will win his 50th cap against the USA on Saturday.

He's an incredible player because there will be games when you feel like he's not doing anything, and then out of nowhere he'll score two or three tries and he takes the game away from opposition by doing things that almost no one else on the planet can do. A special guy and a special player.