Tim Visser (; born 29 May 1987) is a Dutch

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player, who played as a winger for the

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

national team and for English club Harlequins.

Early life

Visser was born in

De Bilt De Bilt () is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and town in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht, Netherlands. It had a population of in . De Bilt houses the headquarters of the Royal Netherland ...

, Netherlands. He was brought up in

Maartensdijk Maartensdijk is a village in the Netherlands, Dutch province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. It is a part of the municipality of De Bilt, and lies about 4 km north of Bilthoven. History Maartensdijk was a separate municipality until 2001, w ...

and played for RC

Hilversum Hilversum () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland, Netherlands. Located in the heart of the Gooi, it is ...

, the club where his father played. He joined the

Newcastle Falcons Newcastle Falcons is a rugby union team that play in Premiership Rugby, England's highest division of rugby union. The club was established in 1877 as the Gosforth Football Club. Around 1882 the club merged with the Northumberland Football Cl ...

Academy as a teenager, after having been spotted playing in the Amsterdam Sevens. On moving to England he joined

Barnard Castle School Barnard Castle School (colloquially Barney School or locally the County School) is a co-educational private day and boarding school in the market town of Barnard Castle, County Durham, in the North East of England. It is a member of The Head ...

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 Northampton Saints (officially Northampton Rugby Football Club) is a professional rugby union club from Northampton, England. The club plays in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby union. It was formed in 1880 as "Northampton St. ...

. Visser made his competitive debut in the English Premiership on 8 September 2006 against

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engl ...

, coming on as a substitute and scoring 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. The 2008–09 season saw Visser add another five tries for Newcastle in 21 appearances, but at the end of the season he chose to sign for the

Celtic League The Celtic League is a pan-Celtic organization, founded in 1961, that aims to promote modern Celtic identity and culture in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany, Cornwall and the Isle of Man – referred to as the Celtic nations; it places pa ...

club

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

Edinburgh Rugby

Visser was the top try scorer in the

Pro12 The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. For sponsorship reasons the league is known as the Vodacom United Rugby Championship in ...

league in each of his first four seasons for Edinburgh. In his first season in the Scottish capital Visser became top scorer in the

Magners League The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. For sponsorship reasons the league is known as the Vodacom United Rugby Championship in ...

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 he again became top try scorer with 14 tries. He was again included in the Magners League Dream Team. Visser finished the 2011–12 Pro12 season with 13 tries, again being the league's top try scorer. With Edinburgh, Visser also reached the semi-finals of the

2011–12 Heineken Cup The 2011–12 Heineken Cup was the 17th season of the Heineken Cup, the annual rugby union European club competition for clubs from the top six nations in European rugby. The final was held at Twickenham on Saturday, 19 May 2012, kicking off at ...

, scoring four tries in total during the competition, and was selected for the third consecutive season to the RaboDirect Pro12 Dream Team. In addition he was voted the Player's Player of the Season. In March 2015 it was announced that Visser would move on from Edinburgh at the end of the season to join Harlequins.

Barbarians

On 29 May 2011, his 24th birthday, Visser made his debut for the

Barbarians A barbarian is a person or tribe of people that is perceived to be primitive, savage and warlike. Many cultures have referred to other cultures as barbarians, sometimes out of misunderstanding and sometimes out of prejudice. A "barbarian" may ...

against

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. Visser scored two tries, including a last effort try which saw the Barbarians snatch away the victory from England at

Twickenham Twickenham ( ) is a suburban district of London, England, on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historic counties of England, Historically in Middlesex, since 1965 it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, who ...

International career

Visser opted not to play for the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

in order to become eligible to play test rugby for one of the Home Nations. World Rugby eligibility rules state that a player may play for a country's national team after 3 years of residency. Visser stated in 2011 that he wished to play for

when he became eligible in June 2012. Scotland coach

Andy Robinson Richard Andrew Robinson Order of the British Empire, OBE (born 3 April 1964) is an English rugby union coach and retired player. He was the director of rugby at Bristol Bears, Bristol until November 2016. He is the former head coach of Scotland ...

named Visser to the 28-player squad for Scotland's tour of Oceania in June 2012. He completed his three years of residency on 12 June and thus was not available for the match in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

on 5 June, but was available for their two remaining tests against

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

and

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...

. Visser made his Scotland debut against Fiji on 16 June and scored two tries in a 37–25 win. Visser made his home debut against

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

on 11 November 2012 during the autumn internationals, scoring two tries. Two tries in the defeat of

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

in August 2015 helped Visser clinch a place in the 31-man squad for the

2015 Rugby World Cup The IRB 2015 Rugby World Cup was the eighth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial rugby union world championship. The tournament was hosted by England from 18 September to 31 October. Of the 20 countries competing in the World Cup in 2011, there was ...

. On 3 May 2018 Tim Visser announced his retirement from international rugby.

International tries

Awards/Records

Dream Team 2009–10 *

Dream Team 2010–11 *

Dream Team 2011–12 *

Young Player of the Year 2009–10 *

Players' Player of the Year 2011–12 *Most tries scored by a player in one Celtic League/Pro12 season – 14 *Record

try scorer with 59 tries (in all competitions

Heineken Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Investec Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...

, and

Challenge Cup The Rugby Football League Challenge Cup, commonly known just as the Challenge Cup is a Single-elimination tournament, knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, it is the world's old ...

)

References

External links

* * * *
RaboDirect Pro12 ProfileHeineken Cup Profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Visser, Tim 1987 births Living people Scottish people of Dutch descent Dutch rugby union players Edinburgh Rugby players Newcastle Falcons players People educated at Barnard Castle School Sportspeople from De Bilt Rugby union wings Scottish rugby union players Scotland international rugby union players Dutch emigrants to Scotland Harlequin F.C. players 2015 Rugby World Cup players Dutch expatriate sportspeople in England Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Dutch expatriate rugby union players Expatriate rugby union players in England Expatriate rugby union players in Scotland Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom Naturalised rugby union players