Had the same combination of matches taken place this time last year Duhan van der Merwe might have made his competitive debut on Scottish soil at Scotstoun rather than Myreside, but for all that he is feeling the cold the 22-year-old is enjoying life in the capital.

Raised under South African sun in the Republic’s Western Province, the 6’4”, 15 and a half stone winger was at Montpellier, tonight’s European Champions Cup visitors to Glasgow., a year ago However just after making his first team debut made the decision to head to Scotland last January and for all that he has found the conditions challenging he is settling to both life in the city and the task of competing for a place.

“I love it here, love the city, love the guys, they’ve helped me a lot, so I came over hoping to get some more opportunities and we’ll see how that goes when I’m fit because there’s a lot of competition,” said ven der Merwe.

He has all the more reason to be relishing that because his involvement was postponed by a hip injury which required surgery in the summer, demanding patience from both player and head coach Richard Cockerill.

“It was tough (being injured) when I’d just come here, because you’re not on the field with the boys and you’re maybe in the gym with four or five other guys,” van der Merwe admitted.

“It’s quite tough building relationships with the guys obviously because you’re not on the pitch, so you’re not that involved, but they try getting us on the pitch, watching unit sessions and team sessions, just to be a part of that.

“It’s been a while... six months. I started training with the team about four weeks ago. It still didn’t feel 100 per cent, but Cockers was like ‘well, whenever you’re fit and I think you’re fit I’ll give you an opportunity,’ and then I got an opportunity against the Cheetahs. It felt very good.”

That was another odd turn of events as, having come halfway round the world to seek a career in Europe, he ended up getting that first opportunity with his new club back in his native South Africa.

“We’d planned on maybe getting back for Treviso in Italy and obviously my hip wasn’t ready, so I was then hoping to maybe get an opportunity in South Africa,” he explained.

“I was a month early because the doc said four to six months, so we were obviously aiming for four months, didn’t make that, back in five months, so I was looking to push for making my debut in South Africa and luckily got the opportunity to make my debut there. My family came over to watch me in Bloemfontein and I’ve got some mates over there. “

That provided an opportunity to gauge the South African response to the introduction of the Southern Kings and Free State Cheetahs to the Pro14 and van der Merwe believes the involvement of his compatriots will ultimately be to the benefit of all concerned.

“The Kings have lost a lot of players to be fair, so I quite feel for them. They’re not a bad team at all and the Cheetahs are doing very good,” he observed. “I just feel it’s quite 50/50. When we go there it’s going to be tough for us because they’re going to play running rugby and it’s going to be hard for us to adapt to that. But at the same time, coming here when it’s cold, wet, they don’t train in those conditions so it’s going to be quite hard for them coming over as well. I think it’s a very good thing having the two South African teams in. It’s just a bit different because they don’t play the same rugby as any of the other Pro14 teams.

“I hope they are providing some excitement in SA. I spoke to some people there and obviously in the beginning they didn’t have any supporters, but the supporters are coming to watch more games and the boys are quite excited about the Pro14... a lot of players will start moving to the Cheetahs or Kings to maybe get a pro14 opportunity because it’s a very strong competition.”