Tim Visser ( born 29 May 1987) is a Dutch

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

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. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

national team and for English club Harlequins.

Early life

Visser was born in

De Bilt De Bilt () is a municipality and town in the province of Utrecht, Netherlands. It had a population of in . De Bilt houses the headquarters of the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI). It is the ancestral home and namesake for the pro ...

, Netherlands. He was brought up in

Maartensdijk Maartensdijk is a village in the Dutch province of 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, when it merged with De Bilt. Until ...

and played for RC Hilversum, 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 ''When you are steeped in little things, you shall safely attempt great things.'' , established = 1883 , type = Public schoolIndependent day and boarding school , religious_affiliation = Inter-denominational with a non-conformist Christian ...

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. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. They were formed in 1880 as "Northampton St. James", ...

. Visser made his competitive debut in the

English Premiership The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

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, Engla ...

, 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 organisation, 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 part ...

club

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

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. The current name was adopted in 2021 when the league expanded to include four South Afr ...

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 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, 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 (or savage) is someone who is perceived to be either uncivilized or primitive. The designation is usually applied as a generalization based on a popular stereotype; barbarians can be members of any nation judged by some to be les ...

against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. 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 in London, England. It is situated on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historically part of Middlesex, it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames since 1965, and the boroug ...

International career

Visser opted not to play for the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

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 OBE (born 3 April 1964) is an English rugby union coach and retired player. He was the director of rugby at Bristol until November 2016. He is the former head coach of Scotland and England. From September 2019 to Dec ...

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

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands ( Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands ( Manono and Apolima); ...

. 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 ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

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

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

in August 2015 helped Visser clinch a place in the 31-man squad for the 2015 Rugby World Cup. 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, and Challenge Cup)

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 People from De Bilt Rugby union wings Scottish rugby union players Scotland international rugby union players Dutch emigrants to the United Kingdom Sportspeople from Utrecht (province) Harlequin F.C. players