It seems hard to remember a time when Pierre Schoeman and Duhan van der Merwe were not part of the Scotland rugby team. With over 40 caps each for their adopted home nation, Schoeman has earned a fan “shoe” chant when he has the ball and van der Merwe has become a record try scorer for Scotland.
With Mr Schoeman now 31 and Mr Van Der Merwe 30, their thoughts have turned to their post-rugby careers. After a successful setup, and sale of a sausage and biltong business by Mr Schoeman the pair teamed up and – along with their wives, Nika Van Der Merwe and Charissa Schoeman and business partner David Whiteford – to launch Hirdundine, a whisky brand under their business Against the Grain.
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“Edinburgh and Scotland have given us everything,” said Mr Schoeman, when I met the duo for a recent Scran podcast recording on their latest whisky launch, a 12 year old Speyside single malt bottled under the Hirundine brand.
Mr Schoeman explained their whisky brand came about after a whisky tasting and cask investment but it all started with his long friendship with Mr Van Der Merwe. He said: “Me and Duhy (Duhan) go way back. We played rugby together as under 18s and roomed together around 2012. We came to Scotland. Edinburgh and Scotland have given us everything. We decided after playing for Scotland, why aren’t we doing something to give back to our friends, fans and families?”
Along with their wives, the friends started thinking about the next venture. “I love Scottish things. We love lochs, castles, Highland cows and, of course, rugby and whisky. And we said: ‘well, why don’t we do something?'” said Mr Schoeman. “We had a whisky tasting with Famous Grouse, which was cool, and that planted the seed.”
Mr Schoeman and Mr Van Der Merwe met Mr Whiteford, who has headed up Banking Business Development at KPMG China as well as leading sponsorship at Scottish Rugby Union, and they went on to cofound Against the Grain. But while Mr Schoeman and Mr Van Der Merwe were keen on the whisky plans, they almost didn’t end up launching the Hirundine brand due to a brutal defeat by Italy in the Six Nations.
“We had to make a decision to be brave,” said Mr Schoeman. “(The whisky brand launch) happened, probably within a week”, said Mr Van Der Merwe. “Pierre met up with David Whiteford on I think it was maybe the Wednesday, we played Italy away for Six Nations on that Saturday.
“We lost and we had to make a decision by Sunday if we want to go ahead with this. Because, with David and the people he knew, we needed to get going asap. So funnily enough, initially, I said no because I just came off the pitch and we lost and I guess it took 24 hours to think about it. This job that we love to do at the moment, it’s not going to be there forever, although Pierre thinks he’s going to play till he’s 50,” laughed Mr Van Der Merwe.
Mr Schoeman added: “After that Italy game, we felt like we let the fans, the country and the nation down so we needed to focus on rugby. But we thought, rugby is the main thing for us now – our faith and family but also rugby – and it will be forever while we play. But we have so many off hours, some boys like gaming or golfing, some people have four children, and that takes so much energy and time. That’s when we decided, let’s go for it.”
“Looking back at it now, a year and a few months later, it’s the best decision we’ve made,” Mr Van Der Merwe added. “Maybe people think we’re just the face of it, and we’ve got everyone else doing all the other bits. It’s not like that. I always complain to Pierre because I like my days off, which are Wednesdays, and I don’t have that any more. But it’s been brilliant.”
After the sellout success of their initial whisky launches – two limited edition blends – the next is a 12 year old Speyside single malt and marks the first foray into aged single malts for the brand. The pair are very involved with the liquid selection and said they’re keen for a range of age statements, including a possible 30 year old.
Mrs Schoeman and Mrs Van Der Merwe have been involved in marketing the whisky and helped create the label design, which features the Hirundine swallow – a semi-migratory bird – and the hidden 1 and 11 in the Hirundine name, a nod to their husbands’ jersey numbers. While the blue and white represent the home and away strip colours.
“We’re using our rugby influence to basically get the whisky brand out there. But it’s not a rugby whisky. It’s an embodiment for everyone, going against the grain, like going to a different country, going for a different challenge, almost like a salmon swimming up against the grain,” said Mr Schoeman.
Both admit to not being experts in whisky, but “have learned a lot in the last 18 to 20 months.” But what about the lead up to big tournaments like the Six Nations, how do they balance being professional athletes with whisky consumption?
“That’s an excellent question”, said Mr Schoeman. “Rugby is quite a big drinking culture, you look after the body, but it’s not like football, where in the season you don’t drink at all. After a great win, it’s always a beer to celebrate, almost like a Viking, sing a song, get the testosterone up, and then you blow the cobwebs away. Get your recovery on a Sunday (I go to church, pray for Duhan and the business while he sleeps), then we’ll do stretching etc on a Monday. That’s how tradition is but we don’t drink during the week.”
And do the pair think they’ll be drinking Hirundine from the Calcutta cup in a few weeks? “I would just be honest and say, stats in history, don’t lie. If Duhan plays, we win. I believe that we’ll drink Hirundine from the Calcutta club,” said Mr Schoeman while Mr Van Der Merwe said: “Looking at our squad and our depth and you look at a guy like Jamie Dobie, who’s been playing for Glasgow, he’s been unbelievable. There’s been tough competition over the last five, six years, which is very healthy. If you look at the autumn that was the first time in my career playing for Scotland that I got dropped, which was challenging at the time, but also very exciting coming up to the Six Nations, because we’ve got a lot of wingers that are performing and playing really well. That’ll be the exciting part of trying to get into the match and hopefully we’ll be able to drink some whisky afterwards.”
Mr Schoeman added: “When the bus comes in, we always say, it doesn’t matter how you feel, you need to be up for it energetically, to prove to every lad and lassie in the crowd, let’s do it.”
To listen to this episode, search Scran wherever you get your podcasts. Hirundine 12 year old Speyside single malt is priced at £75 and available from the brand’s website.
