Visser provides Scots' best hope

 

Simon Turnbull
Thursday 08 November 2012 01:00
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Tim Visser has yet to taste defeat as a Scot
Tim Visser has yet to taste defeat as a Scot

Tim Visser has a message for those who automatically assume he will instantly provide the answer to Scotland's lingering try-scoring problems at Murrayfield on Sunday. "I'm not the saviour," said the giant Dutch-born wing, who will make his home debut for his adopted country in their opening autumn Test against the All Blacks. "I can't just score tries from nothing. I live off what other people do. It all comes from a very complete team."

Scotland have failed to cross the opposition whitewash in six of their last nine matches. But having qualified on residential grounds in June, Visser has already brought his scoring touch to bear. The 25-year-old scored two tries on his Scotland debut in the summer in Fiji and, after playing in the subsequent win in Samoa, he has a try-a-game record.

Visser has yet to taste defeat as a Scot and if he and his team are to have any chance of avoiding the experience on Sunday the chances are they will need to punch at least one try-scoring hole through the All Black defensive line.

The top try-scorer in the Celtic League for the past three seasons, Visser appears to be Scotland's best hope of doing that. A native of Zeewolde, he was destined for an economics course in Amsterdam until Newcastle's Joe Shaw and James Grindal saw him play in the Amsterdam Sevens as a 16-year-old.

He joined the Newcastle academy and scored on his Falcons debut as a replacement against Worcester in September 2006. Six years on, what might the reaction be in his homeland should Visser help Scotland beat the All Blacks? "There will be some Dutch media there," he said. "Hopefully, it will make the sport a little bigger in Holland."

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