Visser’s vitality a real concern for Leinster

It says everything about the impact Tim Visser has made on the wing with Edinburgh — and Scotland — that so much time was devoted to the Flying Dutchman at Leinster’s weekly press conference yesterday.

Queries on such occasions are normally centred towards news and players in the home camp, especially in Pro12 weeks when the immediate gathering can sometimes pass without the next opponents meriting even a perfunctory mention.

Visser has earned the attention. Six tries in Edinburgh’s first three games this season is an exceptional rate of return but the 25-year old from Zeewolde has been merely continuing a rich and lengthy vein of form.

For the last three years, he has finished top of the try-scoring charts in the Magners/Pro12 and earned a place on the competition’s end-of-season ‘Dream Team’ to boot, while he added two touchdowns against Fiji during the summer on his Scotland debut.

Talk of a Lions tour has been swirling around his feet on the rare occasions that he has been known to stand still, and he will be looking to add to a record of four tries in six appearances against Leinster at the RDS tomorrow evening.

So, how do you stop him? “I suppose go low,” said Leinster wing Fionn Carr. “He is a big man and a very powerful guy. He has scored six tries now in three games and everyone will be keeping their eye on him when he gets the ball, so we have to get him on the ground early.

“For a big guy he is really athletic as well and he has got a good step. He is obviously able to read the game very well because he is popping up for so many tries at the right time. That’s a natural instinct and he is a really good finisher.”

Should he play himself, Carr will probably find himself lining up along the far touchline — in theory, anyhow — although with Rob Kearney and Gordon D’Arcy the last of the Ireland contingent to be reporting for duty for the first time this season, slots will be at a premium.

Carr has been one of those fringe players who have benefited from the delayed return of the Declan Kidney’s men, playing in all of the first three games and scoring a try in the second outing against Newport Gwent Dragons. It’s a significant campaign for the Newbridge College graduate who played 15 times but made just two appearances off the bench in Europe last season after making the move from Connacht where he had been such a success.

“Last year maybe I didn’t get some of the big games, which was obviously disappointing for me, but it is a fantastic squad and great to be part of it,” he said, while adding he had not made the change simply to be a squad member.

“I just want to keep driving on and giving Joe (Schmidt) headaches every week. That’s why the game time at the moment is really important for me, just to keep playing and keep playing.”

That switch from Galway to Dublin was questioned by many observers at the time given he was leaving the west right when he would have been guaranteed Heineken Cup football and joining a side chock-full of attacking talent. Then again, if Visser had seen things like that he would hardly be hoping for an all-expenses paid ticket to Australia next summer.