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Van der Merwe was a late call-up to the South Africa Under-20 squad that participated at the 2014 IRB Junior World Championship in New Zealand, replacing Rohan Janse van Rensburg who picked up an injury in South Africa's 61–5 victory against Scotland in the opening round in Pool C. Van der Merwe was an unused replacement for their 33–24 victory over hosts New Zealand in their second match, but started their final pool match, a 21–8 victory over Samoa to help the team finish top of their pool to progress to the semi-finals. He didn't feature in their 32–25 win over New Zealand at that stage, but was named on the bench for the final against England and came on as a replacement in the second half, with South Africa losing 20–21 to finish as runners-up in the competition. Van der Merwe became available for the Scottish international rugby team in Summer 2020. This was based on residency having then lived in Scotland for 3 years since he joined Edinburgh in 2017. He made his international debut for Scotland against Georgia on 23 October 2020, scoring a try in the process. He doubled his test try-scoring tally on 14 November, touching down one of Scotland's four tries in Florence during victory over Italy. then adding another in Dublin on 5 December. Van der Merwe scored the decisive try in Scotland's victory over England in the opening match of the 2021 Six Nations Championship. The following month he scored a further two tries against Italy in a 52-10 victory. This was followed by another brace in the final match of the championship in Paris, the second coming in 84th minute of play to secure a dramatic last-gasp win, Scotland's first in France since 1999. This brought his tally to eight tries in his first ten test matches. Van der Merwe was selected in Scotland's 33-player squad for the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France; however, they exited the tournament in the pool stage, failing to beat both Ireland and South Africa. Van der Merwe was then selected for the 2024 Six Nations Championship. He scored his first Scotland hat-trick against England, after scoring two in the opener against Wales. British & Irish Lions In May 2021, Van Der Merwe was selected in the 37-man squad for the British & Irish Lions tour to South Africa. He took to the field in the opening warm-up match against Japan at Murrayfield, scoring a try in the process and becoming Lion #841. After performing well in the tour's warm up games, scoring five tries in four appearances, he was selected in the starting line up for the first Test and played 70 minutes as the Lions won 17-22. He subsequently played the full 80 minutes of both the second and third Tests as well.
