Match-winning try not enough for Visser

CHRISTMAS came early for Edinburgh’s prolific try-scorer Tim Visser this year, as always. But, as he enjoyed a lighter version of the traditional Scottish festivities yesterday, he admitted he would like to alter a strangely barren run of touchdowns in the 1872 Cup fixture.

Being from Holland, Visser toasts Sinterklaas, the Dutch tradition marking the death of the real-life Saint Nicholas on 6 December. However, he is hosting his family and that of his English fiancée, Laura, in what is becoming a double celebration – “we have Dutch and English now, so more presents!” – as he moves closer to the June 2012 moment when he becomes eligible to play for his adopted country.

Visser is passionate about the opportunity to play for Scotland, but plays down the talk especially after coach Andy Robinson earmarked him for a place on the summer tour to Australia, simply because the 24-year-old winger knows that he is like any other Scottish hopeful and has to keep performing to keep the hope alive. He has continued to benefit from Edinburgh’s attacking style this season, leading the RaboDirect PRO12 try charts with eight in nine league games, which follows on from 14 in 21 league games last season and ten in 17 in his first year after moving from Newcastle to Edinburgh.

He scored for the first time in the annual derby meetings last year to follow a line of wingers crossing the whitewash, including Simon Webster, DTH van der Merwe and Hefin O’Hare in the past few years.

Visser insists he is relaxed about who scores, so long as Edinburgh win, but he acknowledged that just as he takes plaudits when he finishes off, he also suffers when he misses glaring opportunities – as he did against Cardiff last week – irrespective of how many rucks he hits, tackles he makes and teammates he puts away, and the fact he still scored in the Edinburgh victory.

“It was a bad game from my perspective – one of my worst games of the season,” he said, showing a strong self-critical element.

“Coming away with a win and a match-winning try I’ll take for a bad game. If that’s the bad games I get into then I can be happy I guess, but I was annoyed.

“I dropped a few balls and managed to catch the hardest cross-field kick I’ve ever seen and then dropped the easiest one, so it was a bit messy.

“I don’t think I’ve scored that many [in the 1872 Cup]. I don’t usually score many over the winter; I have my winter sleep and go into hibernation until April!

“But a derby like this brings the ideal opportunity to stay focused over Christmas. There is such rivalry behind it, not only between the players, but also the fans. We spoke about this last week and Michael [Bradley] said our Christmas will come at the end of January when we have a week off and everyone agrees with that. We’re all going to stay focused and make sure we deliver for the fans this next couple of weeks.”

This is the first time in three seasons that Edinburgh have opened the two-legged affair at home. They were winning 12-10 at half-time in last season’s opener at Firhill, but ended up losing the match 30-18 with O’Hare, van der Merwe and Max Evans scoring for the Warriors, then bounced back at Murrayfield on 2 January with a 28-17 win in which Visser, Jim Thompson and Netani Talei scored the tries that did for the Warriors.

Visser is up against David Lemi in this clash, though we are likely to see some switching of wings as Lee Jones and Rory Lamont also look to test each other and inject some unpredictability into the match.

Visser said: “I have played against some of the best wingers in the world. I don’t really mind who is there against me because I know it will be competitive whatever.

“It makes a difference to my approach to the game, because I analyse the opposition and what kind of stuff they do, but it doesn’t put any extra pressure on me.

“Rory is a very good player and David is a small, quick and nippy kind of winger. I’ve played against him before when he was with Bristol. He is hard to defend, because he is so agile and almost a magician with the ball, so he’s someone to look out for.

“It is hard for tall wingers to defend against the small, nippy boys because they slip underneath you – that’s just the physics of it. Ideally, I’d like to defend tall guys my size, but I’ll do my best.

“I don’t mind who’s up against me. I like to concentrate on my game and not get too carried away with the opposition.

“They are a good defensive side. I spoke with Ryan Grant who is a good friend and he said they’re winning games defending, and we’re the complete opposite; we like to go out there and play a good brand of rugby and score tries.

“So it’s almost the ideal match-up. They like to defend and we like to attack, and if we do the other component better than they do – defend well and stop their attack – then we’ll get the win.”

That is a fascinating aspect to this battle – Edinburgh ripping teams wide open and scoring great tries when they uncover momentum, but not yet managing to emulate Glasgow’s ability to be competitive, never mind win, when their natural style is stifled by the opposition.

But, after promising European campaigns, it is now the RaboDirect PRO12 that claims the spotlight, and while Edinburgh need a win, sitting ten points behind fourth-placed Cardiff at present, the visitors – now a point outside the top four – are acutely aware that they cannot afford to slip further behind the pace of the top four.

The Dutchman, soon to be Scottish, at least in a sporting context, added: “It is a derby and it’s exciting for the fans, but we need to get some points. We’re suffering now for what happened earlier in the season when we missed some opportunities, so if we could pick up points now and carry that into the Heineken Cup and then back into the Rabo, we’ll be in a good position.

“With two Glasgow games and then Ulster at home there’s a lot of points up for grabs and taking them can put us in a good position for the play-offs.”