TIM VISSER believes the two years he has spent at Harlequins has improved his game “immensely” – and now he wants to become a leader for Scotland this summer.
With Stuart Hogg, Tommy Seymour and Sean Maitland missing the tour, 30-year-old Visser is the most experienced backthree man on the trip for the upcoming clashes with Italy, Australia and Fiji.
And since he moved south to the Aviva Premiership in 2015, Visser, 30, has become a far more rounded player. “I feel the move to Harlequins has helped me move on my game immensely,” he said.
“During the last couple of years with Edinburgh I got a bit stale, we didn't really play the game I like which didn't help me massively, but I improved a lot in my defence and I rediscovered my attacking game at Quins.
“We play the type of game we used to at Edinburgh, a real attacking style, and that's been really exciting. I'm continuing to learn and improve and being around world class players day-in and day-out has really helped me raise my levels and expectations I have of myself.
“It's good to keep learning. Hopefully my defensive game especially will keep getting better and get closer to where my attacking game has been.
“The stuff I've learnt at Quins I will try and bring into the Scotland camp for this summer tour.”
Visser is a player who likes to get the ball on the front foot – and is excited to work under someone with the attacking mindset of new Scotland coach Gregor Townsend.
“I am looking forward to Gregor's time,” the Dutchborn player who has 31 caps said. “He's been good so far. The type of rugby we are trying to play is exciting, it's not too far away from how we played under Vern Cotter.
“We played an expansive game and Gregor is adding his own touch with slightly different types of calls, where he wants his wingers to inject and such like, but it's been really good and he seems like a nice guy which for me is really important in a coach.
“The guys are all focused on this tour as we know there are three tough matches coming up.”
