Monday, September 20, 2010
Tim Visser's great individual effort against Ulster
Visser was featured in last weeks Magners League Best Tries mix , as he has now scored a very handy four tries in just three matches. This one against Ulster was a rare highlight for the Edinburgh side as they came close, but couldnt manage the win.
Formerly of the Newcastle Falcons in England, Visser has now committed to Edinburgh and Scottish rugby, and despite only being one year into his residency, will qualify to play for Scotland in two years time, a prospect that many would love to see happen.
Powerfully built with deceptive pace, a player of Vissers talent deserves to play top level Test rugby. Hes aware of that and while he is Dutch by origin, he will no doubt be wearing his adopted countrys famous blue jersey in the not so distant future.
He was the leading try scorer in the Magners League last season with 10 tries in 17 appearances, as well as picking up the Young Player of the Year award. While at Newcastle, he did actually qualify to play for England though, as he explained recently.
"I qualified for England the day I moved up here but was no longer qualified for them as soon as I made that move," he explained. "Ive spoken to Andy (Robinson, Scotland coach) a couple of times and hes very interested.
"I would never not play for Scotland if I got the chance, but there is no point thinking about that at the moment because I dont qualify for another two years," added Visser.
If he keeps showing his finishing prowess by scoring tries like this 60 meter effort, two years cant come soon enough for Scottish rugby fans.
Time: 01:28
Posted at 2:38 pm | 39 comments
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Viewing 39 comments
Anonymous September 20, 2010 5:05 pm

Anonymous September 20, 2010 6:16 pm

Anonymous September 20, 2010 6:21 pm

Anonymous September 20, 2010 6:32 pm

Anonymous September 20, 2010 6:48 pm

Luxi September 20, 2010 7:53 pm

Hey to all th dutch boys hre, fancy translating chat you're saying ???
Juggernauter September 20, 2010 8:00 pm

dutchrugbyplayer September 20, 2010 8:41 pm

Leeners93 September 20, 2010 9:39 pm

hy September 20, 2010 11:21 pm

Anonymous September 21, 2010 2:11 am

Anonymous September 21, 2010 7:51 am

Anonymous September 21, 2010 7:59 am

H September 21, 2010 8:40 am

But I really hope he doesn't play for Scotland. No offence, but I hate the residency rule, it's meaningless.
No one who lives in one country for 3 years consecutively suddenly becomes their adopted nationality. Years of upbringing in a certain land and culture don't instantly change after three years.
For me its just too much of a tenuous link to be a legal excuse to get better players into the squad. Grandparents at least shows some heritage...
grumpy fist shaking in my day rant over.
Tanqueray September 21, 2010 8:54 am

I think that Visser is more committed to Scotland than one or two players from the past who, on realising they weren't good enough to play for NZ (for example), started trawling their family trees for a connection to another country, often Scotland, making themselves availbale purely so they can be international players. At least Tim is putting down a marker up front and saying "I want to play for Scotland, and I'm going to put in the time to earn the right to be eligible for selection".
It is far from perfect, of course, but not all bad.
NiWiTa September 21, 2010 12:00 pm

@H have to agree with @Tanqueray...hopefully the impact of foreign players converting to another national side means that their skills also pass on. Also Visser has made his intention plain although as an England fan I'd rather he played for England! If you emigrate to a country than why not I guess?
Octus Spherus September 21, 2010 12:02 pm

There was a Dutch fullback playing in the NZ 2nd Division for a while. There seems to be some good, raw talent in Dutch outside backs.
Coco September 21, 2010 12:10 pm

Magnus and Erik Lund of Norway play in Biarritz and Robert Mohr of germany plays in La Rochelle.
Herbie September 21, 2010 12:24 pm

Believer September 21, 2010 1:18 pm

With the progress Scotland have made in the last year, with the loss of Thom Evans, a classy winger wih real try-scoring ability could well be the difference between Scotland winning the 6 Nations or just making it very difficult for everyone else with the occasional upset.
The victories against Ireland and Argentina, as well as other 6N performances showed Scotland can compete with the best, even without scoring hardly any tries. Imagine the difference it would make if they actally DID start scoring tries!!!
I agree, as a lover of rugby, that it would be great to see lesser nations making strides in the international game, but I don't think one player is going to turn around Dutch fortunes that much. You just have to look at all the Dutch fans coming out the woodwork on here though to realise the impact Visser playing this level of rugby is having on Dutch rugby. Can you imagine what a marketing tool it could be for Dutch rugby to be able to say "lets have Scotland as our adoptive top tier country as we watch our own Tim Visser, current top try scorer in the Scotland team, line up against the ALL BLACKS", something he'd never do for the Netherlands.
I reckon that would do a lot more for increasing the popularity of thegame in the Noetherlands over the long run, and as the game improves, the best players would feel the need less and less to play outside of the N'lands, or to play for anyone else internationally.
I really think Tim Visser could be crucial to bot Scotland and the Netherlands fortunes, albeit over different time scales!
Anonymous September 21, 2010 1:19 pm

Anonymous September 21, 2010 2:11 pm

About Visser: The level of the dutch rugbyteam is really poor, so it would be a damn shame to have a player of his quality playing on such a shitty level. If he's good enough for the Scottish team, than he shouldn't doubt for a second and go for it. I agree with Believer that it would be great for dutch rugbyfans to watch "our Tim Visser" play against the greatest rugbynations on the planet.
Benson September 21, 2010 2:26 pm

Anyway, very good try. Not the first time he's done it either. I think it would be great to see him in the Six Nations for Scotland.
Sentiment only goes so far. By choosing to play for Holland he'd be doing himself a disservice. It would be like Zee Ngwenya having chosen to play for Zimbabwe for the sake of helping them grow.
Anonymous September 22, 2010 9:42 am

Herbie September 22, 2010 10:32 am

I see your point, yet Tim playing for Scotland won't have an immediate impact on Dutch rugby while playing for the Netherlands will have. As a Dutchman living in Ireland it's great to see how rugby is popular here and I love to see rugby becoming more popular in the Netherlands (we are the tallest country in the world, if any good we should make the all blacks shit during the Haka ;-)
Anyway playing the All Blacks is great but so did Portugal during the Worldcup so he might do the same in 9 years time (His brother is with Newcastle Falcons academy so more talent coming)
Anonymous September 22, 2010 7:05 pm

Jelle October 13, 2010 10:10 am

I'd rather see players of his caliber being able to play in a proper Dutch competition, but perhaps 10 years is somewhat soon for that.
Oneeyedcanessupporte November 05, 2010 6:15 pm
















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