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DTH van der Merwe has been crowned a double Pro 12 champion. Having won the 2015 Guinness Pro 12 with the Glasgow Warriors van der Merwe has today completed the rare feat of winning with two different teams from as many unions.
The Canadian flier scored a second half try for the victorious Scarlets. The Llanelli-based side ran riot in Dublin, downing Munster 46-22. It sees van der Merwe ending his two years in West Wales in ideal fashion. Next season he will be playing his rugby in England for the Newcastle Falcons.
The title ends a thirteen-year wait for West Wales. The last time the Celtic-Italian League champion was from Llanelli was back in 2004. At that time the team was known as the Llanelli Scarlets. Since then rivals the Ospreys have won four titles and Glasgow one. The seven remaining champions have all been Irish. All four provinces have been Pro 12 champions.
Aged 31, van der Merwe is on target to appear in four Rugby World Cups. He played in France 2007, New Zealand 2011 and England 2015. This has seen him playing in all 12 of Canada’s Rugby World Cup matches at these tournaments.
In total van der Merwe has been capped 42 times. This number is expected to rise next month. Canada will play home test matches against Georgia, Romania in addition to home-and-away against the USA. Involvement in these and additional tests ought to see van der Merwe earn his 50th test cap well before Japan 2019 gets underway.
