The wing left Glasgow Warriors for Scarlets over the summer and promptly launched himself into the global spotlight at the World Cup by scoring one try in each pool game for Canada.
His try against Italy was perhaps the highlight, as he hared up the field in support of his teammates before taking on an inside pass and slaloming through the Azzurri defence.
And van der Merwe has taken no time at all to acclimatise to Llanelli after notching a debut double for the still-unbeaten Scarlets in the victory over Leinster - the first showing off his predatory instincts as he intercepted Noel Reid and went the distance.
That dream start would have been no surprise to any Glasgow fan, who owe much to van der Merwe for reaching the GUINNESS PRO12 final last year.
With Glasgow staring down the barrel at home to Ulster in the semi-finals, the 29-year-old bullied his way across the whitewash to set up Finn Russell's match-winning conversion.
Indeed, van der Merwe very rarely lets his side down - his strike rate of 37 tries from 69 PRO12 starts attests to that - and he signed off at the Warriors with a try as they won the Final and lifted the trophy for the first time ever.
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