5 Things to Know About Lions call-up Duhan van de Merwe

Here are five things you should know about the Edinburgh and Scotland powerhouse winger.

 He was born and grew up in George in the Western Cape province of South Africa., and qualified for Scotland through the three year residency rule

Van der Merwe is the younger brother of Akker van der Merwe, also a professional rugby union player who plays at hooker for the Sale Sharks and South Africa.

The two could face off this summer when the British & Irish Lions face the Springboks, with their parents reportedly having a half and half jersey manufactured.

According to Opta‘s statistics, O’Driscoll beat a record 30 defenders in a single Six Nations campaign in 2000, but Van der Merwe bested that tally in the recently concluded tournament when he beat 31 defenders in the five Tests they played.

The winger lives in Edinburgh with his South African girlfriend Nika Badenhorst. She currently works as an area manager for the DCK Group, who are one of the world’s leading fashion jewellery retailers/wholesalers.

Despite being 6ft 4 and 235lbs, the winger is incredibly fast. Reports suggest he can do the 100m in 11.5 seconds, which is 0.1 seconds faster than Scotland teammate Stuart Hogg.