Scotland provide crucial Duhan van der Merwe injury update

Steve Tandy indicated that Scotland’s record try-scorer Duhan van der Merwe will be fit and available for selection for Saturday’s Guinness Six Nations opener at home to Italy.

The South Africa-born wing sat out training with the national team early last week after missing Edinburgh’s Challenge Cup match against Black Lion on January 19 with an ankle injury sustained against Vannes the previous weekend.

Asked how Van der Merwe was progressing, defence coach Tandy said on Monday: “Duhan’s been in training today, he’s been good, he’s done everything today.”

Back-rower Luke Crosbie and second-row duo Grant Gilchrist and Jonny Gray have also had injury issues in recent weeks. However, Tandy played down any concern that the Scots may be about to be hit with further withdrawals after starting pair Sione Tuipulotu and Scott Cummings, as well as Dylan Richardson and Josh Bayliss, were ruled out out of the championship over the past fortnight.

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“No, the boys trained today, everyone’s been in and has been training, so that’s great for us after losing a few,” said Tandy. “But that’s rugby, every team has it.

“We’ve lost a couple of big ones, but it’s what it is, we’ve just got to focus on the boys that are coming in. It’s an amazing opportunity to represent Scotland, whoever it may be.”

Tandy is confident that Scotland have enough experience in their ranks to deal with the loss of captain Tuipulotu and lock Cummings.

“With Sione and Scott and some of the bigger players who are still here, the leadership has been huge, but I think a lot of their leadership has rubbed off on others as well,” he said.

“The group has been together for a fair period of time now, so I think even though there’s one leader (Tuipulotu), it’s also shared. Stafford McDowall is captain in Glasgow, so there are lots of shared experiences and learnings right throughout the group.

“Ultimately it is a void, but we have to fill it, and what we find is when someone does have an unfortunate injury, it’s surprising the people that do step up.”

Tandy revealed the Scots have referred to last year’s galling 31-29 defeat away to Italy as they prepare to welcome the Azzurri in this Saturday’s championship opener.

“It’s definitely a reminder, and it’s definitely been referenced around the learning we had,” he said of their shock loss in the Eternal City.

“Ultimately it was an experience that we didn’t like, that we weren’t happy with, but I think we’ve grown. We put a performance in the week after (away to Ireland), and we then had a good autumn.

“We know how good Italy are, there’s a lot of consistency around the boys playing for Benetton and some big players playing in France. We know and totally respect what Italy do, they’re a really good outfit, well organised, well drilled, so we know that we’re going to have to put in a complete performance on Saturday.”