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On Saturday DTH van der Merwe made history. His two tries against the USA saw him becoming Canada’s all-time leading try scorer. This saw him overtaking the previous record of 24 held by Winston Stanley.
Stanley played 66 times for Canada, including appearing at Rugby World Cups 1995, 1999 and 2003. van der Merwe took over from Stanley, playing in the three subsequent World Cups. His debut was against Barbados in 2006. His 25 tries have come from 44 test matches.
In England 2015, van der Merwe become the first player in Rugby World Cup history to score a try in all four pool matches. This record may stand for quite some time.
Canada will be looking for further magic from van der Merwe this coming Saturday. The Maple Leafs play away to the USA in the return fixture. With the teams having competed to a draw in Hamilton, Ontario the winner of match two will qualify for Rugby World Cup 2019.
Canada must win the match so to avoid a tougher assignment and possibly missing out on playing in Japan 2019 altogether. Canada has played in all Rugby World Cups. Conversely the USA missed out on qualifying for the 1995 event. This coming weekend the Eagles enter San Diego with an edge which is home advantage.
