Richard Cockerill, the coach who brought him to Edinburgh in the first place, has called him a freak, which he is.
Nobody could legitimately claim that Van der Merwe, for all his power and pace and lethal finishing ability, is the complete rugby player. Absolutely, he is not.
He may have come a long way since fetching-up at Edinburgh and failing his medical.
He has progressed thrillingly beyond the point where Cockerill used to close his eyes when the ball was in the air anywhere near him for fear that he’d drop it.
He’s flawed, of course. But the upside? Historic amounts of it. Tries by the bucket load – easy run-ins and monstrous solo runs.
Give him a yard of grass and, as an opposition, best start saying your prayers.
His appearances at the Principality have seen the worst and the best of him.
In 2022, in what was a dismal Scotland defeat, the abiding image of him was a negative one, a man coughing up ball and looking a bit weak amid a battle.
Two years later, he was a total menace.
Russell the creator, Van der Merwe the finisher, from inside the Wales 22 for the first and from a mile out for the second, an arcing run that Wales saw coming but could do nothing to stop.
They’ll see him again on Saturday. Some of those Welsh players might see him in their nightmares before Saturday.
Van der Merwe might see this is a second chapter in his Scotland’s story, one that some felt might have been slipping away from him amid the excellence of Steyn and Dobie.
Rugby’s brutality, and Dobie’s injury, has opened the door to him again and he’s not the type to knock politely. His way has always been to take the thing off its hinges. Wales won’t need any warning about the danger lurking out there on the left wing.
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