| Jan van der Merwe | |
| Birth Date: | 31 August 1995 |
| Birth Place: | Pretoria, South Africa |
| Weight: | 1100NaN0 |
| School: | Pretoria Boys High School |
| University: | University of Pretoria |
| Position: | Hooker |
| Youthyears1: | 2014–2016 |
| Years1: | 2015 |
| Apps1: | 1 |
| Points1: | 0 |
| Years2: | 2016 |
| Apps2: | 7 |
| Points2: | 0 |
| Years3: | 2017–present |
| Apps3: | 9 |
| Points3: | 10 |
| Amatyears1: | 2015–2016 |
| Amatapps1: | 3 |
| Amatpoints1: | 0 |
| Repyears1: | 2015 |
| Repteam1: | South Africa Under-20 |
| Repcaps1: | 5 |
| Reppoints1: | 5 |
| Clubupdate: | 14 April 2018 |
| Repupdate: | 14 April 2018 |
Jan van der Merwe (born 31 August 1995 in Pretoria, South Africa) is a South African rugby union player who most recently played for the . His regular position is hooker.
Despite never earning a provincial call-up at high school level, Van der Merwe joined the Blue Bulls Academy after finishing high school and represented the side in the 2014 Under-19 Provincial Championship, starting eight matches and making three substitute appearances as they reached the final of the competition, where they were defeated 26–33 by .
He made his first class debut for the on 6 March 2015, coming on as a late replacement in their 2015 Vodacom Cup match against the in Kempton Park, helping them to a 37–13 victory.
He also played for in the 2015 Varsity Cup competition, starting their match against and playing off the bench on two occasions.
Despite initially not being named in a 37-man training squad for the South Africa national under-20 rugby union team,[1] he did feature for them in a friendly match against a Varsity Cup Dream Team in April 2015. He came on as a first-half replacement and scored a try just after half-time in a 31–24 victory. He was also included in the squad that embarked on a two-match tour of Argentina.[2] He came on as a replacement in their 25–22 victory over Argentina[3] and started their second tour match a few days later, in which he scored two first-half tries in a 39–28 victory.[4]
Upon the team's return, he was named in the final squad for the 2015 World Rugby Under 20 Championship.[5] He started their opening match in Pool B of the competition and got South Africa's first points in the competition by scoring a try in a 33–5 win against hosts Italy. He played off the bench in their remaining two group stage fixtures, a 40–8 win against Samoa and a 46–13 win over Australia to help South Africa finish top of Pool B to qualify for the semi-finals with the best record pool stage of all the teams in the competition. Van der Merwe came on as a replacement in their semi-final match against England, but could not prevent them losing 20–28 to be eliminated from the competition by England for the second year in succession. He started their third-place play-off match against France, helping South Africa to a 31–18 win to secure third place in the competition.