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Townsend defends Van der Merwe and opens up on team selection

Gregor Townsend defended winger Duhan van der Merwe after the Scotland star's performances at Edinburgh came under scrutiny.

The 29-year-old winger is Scotland's leading try-scorer, with 28 from 41 appearances, but has struggled to repeat his dazzling Test level form in the United Rugby Championship.

"We love what Duhan does in training," Townsend said, after selecting Van der Merwe to play Fiji in the opening game of Scotland's Autumn Nations series.

"He's one of the hardest-working players. I can only comment on what he's doing with us, and he's able to thrive in the bigger occasions. That's a real compliment to him as a person, but he also knows that scoring tries isn't everything."

The South Africa-born flyer will start in the back-three alongside Darcy Graham, who makes his first Scotland appearance since the 2023 World Cup.

"He's excited," Townsend said. "That last game he played as well against Cardiff, he got a number of touches on the ball. It's probably taken him a few games to grow into that form, which is understandable, but he's trained really well this week.

"We're excited about the back three. Duhan’s obviously played a lot of very good Test matches for us and scored a number of tries. Then you've got Kyle Rowe, who's in excellent form.

"He is a very intelligent rugby player, he runs really good lines, he brings others into the game, but he's been showing over the last few weeks that he's a brilliant finisher too."

Elsewhere, tighthead prop D'Arcy Rae is in line to pick up just his second cap - more than five years after winning his first one against Ireland in the 2019 Six Nations.

"I'm so pleased for D'Arcy to win his second cap if he gets off the bench this weekend," Townsend added. "He's been on form this year. When the scrum's gone well with Edinburgh, D'Arcy's been at the heart of that."

There is also a starting spot for Adam Hastings, whose last start at Murrayfield came against Fiji in the autumn Tests two years ago.

“He's been really good," the head coach said. "He's not had probably the minutes he would like, and that's partly because of injury. The way Glasgow play, you're seeing a lot more of Adam making decisions in attack, whether it's the area to attack with ball in hand or use a kicking game.

"I believe the competition between him and Tom [Jordan] are bringing the best out of each other, so they're a very good complement for us."