Duhan van der Merwe ‘absolutely buzzing’ as record-breaking Scotland wing relieved ‘monkey is off the back’

Scotland’s record try scorer, Duhan van der Merwe, admits he is “absolutely buzzing” after grabbing his 28th Test score that takes him ahead of Stuart Hogg.

The 29-year-old wing, who was level with Hogg after crossing against the USA a couple of weeks ago, scored against Uruguay on Saturday to become the outright leader.

He has reached 28 tries in just 41 appearances, which is an impressive strike rate that has seen him overtake the likes of Ian Smith and Tony Stanger en route to Hogg.

Buzzing

After the Uruguay triumph, Van der Merwe is looking to continue to rack up the international crossings and thanked one of his team-mates who assisted the key try.

“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,” he said.

“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.

How Duhan van der Merwe became Scotland’s unlikely hero after breaking try record

“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.”

Unlike several of their Americas tour matches, it was not a one-sided affair on the scoreboard as Uruguay responded to being 19-0 down by drawing level at 19-19.

Fortunately for Scotland further tries from replacement front-rowers Patrick Harrison and Pierre Schoeman helped Gregor Townsend’s men to secure the 31-19 win.

“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.”

READ MORE: Duhan van der Merwe breaks try-scoring record as Scotland end season with nervy victory over Uruguay