Scotland’s aim in 2023 has to be to win the Rugby World Cup, believes Duhan van der Merwe, and they have the team to do it.
The wing scored another try in the 52-29 victory over Argentina, his 14th in just 23 tests. But for once he had to give centre stage to his wing colleague Darcy Graham, whose hat-trick now means he has 16 tries in 33 games.
And the quality of attacking play at Murrayfield showed that Scotland have to aim as high as possible.
“(The aim) is, obviously, win the World Cup,” he said. “I truly believe we are capable of that.
“The boys are on fire at the moment. Being around for the last three years and watching Scotland before, I think the depth at the moment might be the best there’s ever been.
“That is a big positive. On a Tuesday or Wednesday, we call them the muggies, the guys not in the (matchplay) 23, they make it really tough for us. That just shows the depth of our squad at the moment. If someone gets injured, someone else comes in and gets the opportunity and we know they’ll do the job.”
Defeat to New Zealand was tough to take, and it still stung, he said.
“I know we spoke about switching back on for this week, but I found it really tough because, when am I going to have the opportunity again (to beat New Zealand)?.
“Being in the lead for so long, the last 15-20 minutes they’ve managed to come back, which hurts. Again, Australia, for 60-65 minutes we were ahead and they came back.
“There are obviously bits to work on, but we are all positive and we know we can compete. We’ve got a pretty tough pool – Ireland and South Africa is not going to be easy – but we know we can beat them.”
‘I think now I’m competing against him’
Finn Russell cooks up a try assist for Duhan van der Merwe to feast on.#SCOvARG pic.twitter.com/oreznv7PlB
— Jared Wright (@jaredwright17) November 19, 2022
Stuart Hogg broke the long-standing try record for Scotland just a year ago – Saturday’s score took him to 27 – but both wings have him in their sights, said van der Merwe.
“Fair play to Darcy,” he said. “I was thinking of chasing Hoggy’s record but all of a sudden, I think now I’m competing against him!
“He deserves all the credit he gets. He’s been phenomenal since I’ve been back at Edinburgh. I’m happy for him.
“Me and Finn (Russell) spoke about a double, but that’s just how the game went. I didn’t get much ball in the second half. I’m happy for Darcy and all the other boys that got on the scoresheet in the second half.”
Russell and Hogg keep him on his toes on the training field and the pitch, he added.
“It’s good to see Finn, and to have him back, with obviously him being so confident.
“He’s always in my ear, getting me to work off the ball because I can be a bit lazy. He’s always saying ‘work off the ball and I’ll put you away’.
“Hoggy’s very loud from the back and gives me a lot of confidence. He knows when I lose my head, he always comes up to me and says, ‘Duhi, forget about it, focus on the next job”.
“That’s a real positive for me because that’s one of my biggest work-ons, I lose my head quite quickly. He gives me confidence, always speaks to me when he is attacking. I know what he is going to do. It’s always great playing with him.”