South African born internationally capped Canadian Daniel Tailliferre Hauman “DTH” van der Merwe played in Major League Rugby between 2021-2022. He represented the LA Giltinis for his entire MLR career.

van der Merwe started playing rugby at the age of 5 and played throughout his youth prior to moving with his family to Saskatchewan, Canada in 2003. He played with the Regina Rogues and impressed enough to earn spots on the Saskatchewan U18 & U21 sides, as well as playing with the Prairie Fire in the Rugby Canada Super League before moving to Victoria, British Columbia in 2005. In BC, van der Merwe began playing with the James Bay Athletic Association between 2005-2009, winning 3 consecutive provincial championships between 2006-2008, and a national championship in 2017. Van der Merwe’s professional career began during with James Bay AA, when he joined English Premiership side Saracens for the 2007/08 season but was injured on his debut and sidelined for 18 months.

He recovered, and his ‘breakout’ period came when he joined the Glasgow Warriors in the PRO 12 (later PRO 14 and now the URC) with whom he played between 2009-2015, scoring a whopping 43 tries in his first stint with the club. After 6 years in Glasgow, van der Merwe joined the Scarlets between 2015-2017, scoring another 20 tries in 41 appearances for the Welsh side, before dipping his toe into the English Premiership once again for the 2017/18 season with the Newcastle Falcons. After a season with Newcastle, van der Merwe returned to the Glasgow Warriors for a second stint between 2018-2020, scoring another 12 tries. In total, he scored an incredible 75 PRO12/PRO14 tries, including 63 in 124 appearances for Glasgow, before even touching his international career.

DTH van der Merwe made his international debut for Canada in June 2006 against Barbados. He earned 61 caps for Canada and leads the national team in tries scored, with 38. He represented his adopted nation at FOUR World Cups, in 2007, 2011, 2015, and 2019, retiring from international rugby following the 2019 competition in Japan. The LA Giltinis confirmed the signing of DTH van der Merwe in November 2020, ahead of their inaugural MLR season in 2021 where he continued his prolific scoring. He scored 11 tries in 13 MLR games (12 starts), finishing T-2nd with Utah’s Sama Malolo for tries scored, and 9th for Meters Gained with 931m as LA advanced to the Championship final in their inaugural season, defeating Rugby ATL 31-17 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Van der Merwe was signed with LA for the 2022 season, but injury prevented him taking the field and, when the LA Giltinis and Austin Gilgronis folded shortly after they were disqualified from the 2022 MLR Championship Series for a violation of league rules, he announced his retirement.

achievements:

• 2021 MLR Champion: LA Giltinis
• 9th in MLR Meters Gained: 2021 (931)
• T-2nd in MLR Try Scoring: 2021 (11)