Tim Visser

Tim Visser
Full name Tim Jan Willem Visser
Date of birth (1987-05-29) 29 May 1987
Place of birth Zeewolde, Netherlands
Height 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in)[1]
Weight 109 kg (17 st 2 lb)
School Christelijk College Nassau-Veluwe
Barnard Castle School
Notable relative(s) Sep Visser
Rugby union career
Playing career
Position Wing
Professional / senior clubs
Years Club / team Caps (points)
2007–2009
2010–2015
2015–		 Newcastle Falcons
Edinburgh
Harlequins		 57
130
17		 (65)
(345)
(50)
correct as of 6 September 2015.
National team(s)
Years Club / team Caps (points)
2012–
2011		 Scotland
Barbarians		 28
1		 (55)
(10)
correct as of 19 November 2016.

Tim Visser (born 29 May 1987 in Zeewolde) is a Dutch-born Scottish rugby union player currently playing on the wing for Harlequins and internationally representing Scotland. He is the first Dutch rugby player to play professionally.[2]

Early career

Visser joined the Newcastle Falcons Academy as a teenager, after having been spotted playing in the Amsterdam Sevens. Moving from the Netherlands – where he played for RC Hilversum – to England he joined Barnard Castle School and went on to represent England Schools at under-18 level in 2005.

Newcastle Falcons

Having signed a two-year contract with Newcastle in April 2007, he started the 2007–08 season on loan with the recently relegated Northampton Saints.[3]

Visser made his competitive debut in the Guinness Premiership on 8 September 2006 against Worcester, coming on as a substitute and grabbing the winning try. He played a further 10 games for the Falcons in his first season, scoring four tries in total, before finishing the season on loan to Darlington Mowden Park, a National Division Three club.[4]

The 2008–09 season saw Visser add another five tries to his tally with Newcastle in 21 appearances, but at the end of the season he chose to sign for the Magners League outfit Edinburgh.

Edinburgh Rugby

Visser was the top try scorer in the Pro 12 league in each of his first four seasons for Edinburgh since joining in 2009–10.

In his first season in the Scottish capital Visser became top scorer in the Magners League with 10 tries, winning the Young Player of the Season Award and being named in the Magners League Dream Team. In the 2010–11 season Visser once again became top try scorer of the Magners League with 14 tries in total. He was again included in the Magners League Dream Team. Visser finished the 2011–12 Pro12 season with 13 tries, again becoming the league's top try scorer. With Edinburgh, Visser also reached the semi-finals of the 2011–12 Heineken Cup, scoring four tries in total during the competition, obtaining his third successive inclusion to the RaboDirect Pro12 Dream Team. In addition he was voted the Player's Player of the Season.[5]

In March 2015 it was announced that Visser would move on from Murrayfield at the end of the season to join Harlequins.[6]

Barbarians

On 29 May 2011, Visser made his debut for the Barbarians against England. Visser scored two tries, including a last effort try which saw the Barbarians snatch away the victory from England at Twickenham. It was his birthday.

International career

Visser was eligible to play for the Netherlands, but opted not to do so to become eligible to play Test rugby for one of the Home Nations. IRB eligibility rules state that a player may play for the senior fifteen-a-side National Representative Team of the Union of the country in which he has completed 36 consecutive months of residence. Visser stated in 2011 that he wished to play for Scotland when he would become eligible in June 2012.[7] Scotland coach Andy Robinson named Visser to the 28-player squad for Scotland's tour of Oceania in June 2012.[8] He completed his three years of residency on 12 June and thus was not available for the match in Australia on 5 June, but was available for their two remaining tests against Fiji and Samoa.[8][9]

Visser made his Scotland debut against Fiji on 16 June and scored two tries in a 37–25 win.[10][11] Visser made his debut on home soil in a match against New Zealand on 11 November 2012 during the Autumn Internationals. During this Murrayfield test debut he scored two tries against the world champion All Blacks.

Two tries in the defeat of Italy in August 2015 helped Visser clinch a place in the 31-man squad named for the 2015 Rugby World Cup by Vern Cotter.

International tries

Try Opponent City/Country Venue Competition Year
[1–2]  Fiji Lautoka, Fiji Churchill Park Summer Tour 2012
[3–4]  New Zealand Edinburgh, Scotland Murrayfield Stadium Autumn Test 2012
[5]  Italy Edinburgh, Scotland Murrayfield Stadium Six Nations 2013
[6]  France Saint-Denis, France Stade de France Six Nations 2013
[7]  United States Houston, US BBVA Compass Summer Test 2014
[8–9]  Italy Edinburgh, Scotland Murrayfield Stadium World Cup warm-up 2015
[10]  United States Leeds, England Elland Road 2015 Rugby World Cup 2015
[11]  France Edinburgh, Scotland Murrayfield Stadium Six Nations 2016

Awards/Records

References

  1. ↑ https://www.rugbyworldcup.com/scotland/player/43898
  2. ↑ "Edinburgh land Dutchman Tim Visser". The Telegraph. 27 May 2009. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
  3. ↑ "Saints loaned Newcastle duo". BBC Northamptonshire. 5 September 2007. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
  4. ↑ "Newcastle's Visser in loan move". BBC Sport. 28 February 2007. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
  5. ↑ Piperdy, Hash (7 May 2012). "News : RABODIRECT PRO12 AWARD WINNERS 2011/2012". RaboDirectPRO12. Retrieved 13 March 2013.
  6. ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/32108681
  7. ↑ Hannan, Martin (10 July 2011). "Scottish cap is in Tim Visser's sights". Scotland on Sunday. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
  8. 1 2 "Scotland debut for Ryan Grant as David Pocock leads Wallabies". BBC Sport. BBC. 4 June 2012. Retrieved 16 June 2012.
  9. ↑ "Five Uncapped Players Named in Scotland Summer Tour Squad". Scottish Rugby Union. 16 May 2012. Retrieved 16 May 2012.
  10. ↑ "Visser Makes Debut as Evans Returns" (Press release). Scottish Rugby Union. 12 June 2012. Retrieved 13 June 2012.
  11. ↑ "Fiji 25–37 Scotland". BBC Sport. BBC. 16 June 2012. Retrieved 16 June 2012.
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