By Lucky Vince Pienaar
➤ All over Scotland, Duhan van der Merwe is being hailed as the new King of Scotland and why not? His hat trick of tries against England will feature in rugby showreels worldwide for many years!
Give this man a metre or two of space to work in, and he will deliver the goods.
Not one of his breath-taking tries were easy run-ins. He had to work for them.
His first came after he ran into space to collect the ball from Huw Jones in broken play, sidestepped past two defenders and crossed the line with two English players hanging on to his back. This was already a massive contribution to the Scotland cause — but more was to come.
His second came as he tip-toed his way down the touchline and with sheer speed scored in the corner, his body outside the field in mid-air as he touched the ball down.
Finally, when Cam Redpath chipped into the corner Van der Merwe collected at full speed to complete the hat trick — leaving South Africa fans all over the country reminding each other, as if it matters, that Van der Merwe is South African-born. Hat tricks are always special, but this one is in a special category because none of the tries were easy.
England didn’t play badly, but they kept repeating one deadly mistake. If left alone to roam around the field, Duhan van der Merwe will hand out the punishment. He never had a chance against the Springboks or Ireland because they never gave him any space. There’s a lesson in there for coach Steve Borthwick and the England team.
➤ Wales were always going to battle against Ireland. No surprises there, but the way Ireland did it was awesome. For 20 minutes Wales’s defence held bravely, but then that green tsunami washed them off the pitch as Ireland scored four tries — Wales’s only score coming from a penalty try.
➤ Against Italy, France played their worst game since the World Cup. French coach Fabien Galthié will have to find a way to stop the French players from sulking — and he will have to start with himself.
Italy, on the other hand, played the game of their lives. The more the French played that disdainful rugby that they delight in, the harder the Italians fought. It’s hard to say if the red card shown to France’s Jonathan Danty halfway through the match made any difference to the disinterested French. A win for Italy would have been satisfying and well-deserved.
Ireland (4 tries) 31-7 (1 try) Wales
Scotland (3 tries) 30-21 (2 tries) England
France (1 try) 13-13 (1 try) Italy.
Pictured above: Duhan van der Merwe.
Image source: X
