The British and Irish Lions rugby team, who will tour Australia between June 28 and August 2 this year, are taking a good dose of rugby IQ, strength and skill from Pretoria with them.

This connection with Pretoria and South Africa come in the form of two “Boer-Scots”, who are included in the team.

While powerful winger Duhan van der Merwe will go on his second British and Irish Lions tour, loose head prop Pierre Schoeman will for the first time in his career be part of the elite group of 38 players when they take on Australian teams at regional and international level.

Both players have strong Pretoria connections.

* In 2014, Van der Merwe, who matriculated at Hoërskool Outeniqua in George and played for SWD in the Craven Week, moved to Pretoria and scored eight tries in 12 matches for the Bulls’ u.19 provincial team. He also played for the South African u.20 team that year.

In 2015 he was again one of the stars in the Blue Bulls’ u.21 team, while a year later in 2016 he was one of the standouts in Tuks’ Varsity Cup team in 2016. He was the top try scorer in the tournament that year.

In the same 2016 season Van der Merwe made two appearances for the Blue Bull’s senior team, but after he was not offered a senior contract by the Bulls, he moved to Europe at the end of that year.

Van der Merwe currently holds the all-time record for most test tries for Scotland, with his 31 tries in 48 tests. He also scored five tries in four warm-up matches against Japan and provincial South African teams on the British and Irish Lions’ 2021 tour of South Africa and he played in all three tests against the Springboks on that tour.

* Schoeman was captain of a very good Afrikaanse Hoër Seunskool (Affies) first team in 2012, which included teammates such as RG Snyman (Bulls, Springboks, Munster and Leinster), Ivan van Zyl (Bulls, Springboks and Saracens), Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg (Bulls, Springboks and Montpellier in France), Jean Droste (Bulls, Sharks, Cheetahs and Kubota Spears in Japan) and Nico Lee (Cheetahs and CA Brive in France).

He was also selected as South African schools captain in 2012, while he played for the Junior Springboks at the IRB’s Junior World Cup tournament in 2014.

Since 2013 Schoeman played for the Bulls at junior level and later in the Currie Cup series and the Super Rugby tournament.

He also played Varsity Cup rugby for Tuks, while between 2014 and 2018 he played in 26 matches in the Vodacom Cup and Currie Cup tournaments for the Blue Bulls and in 35 matches in the Super Rugby tournament for the Bulls.

After the 2018 Super Rugby tournament, the Bulls announced that Schoeman had accepted an offer from Edinburgh in Scotland. At the time, he openly stated his desire to play test rugby as one of the reasons for his move and it was also no secret that the offer from Scotland included the possibility of a place in the Scottish test team when he would have qualified for it after three years.

Schoeman has meanwhile played in more than 100 matches for Edinburgh since 2018 and has also played in 40 test matches for Scotland since 2021. He has become a cult figure among rugby fans in the Scottish capital and is one of the most popular players in both Edinburgh’s team and the Scottish Test team.

– Both Van der Merwe and Schoeman have already been rewarded with several awards for their excellent play on club and international level since moving to Scotland.

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