Fast, big & Strong..... but why can't Visser tackle?

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It's no surprise that I think Tim Visser is a gifted athlete. As an Edinburgh fan I have noted how usefull he'll be to Scotland when he qualified. He has and has already scored 4 tries in what 6 caps?

He's 6ft 5 and tips the scales at 16st 12. A big lad to say the least.

He and a few of his Scotland team mates had been recently snapped.... wearing not much shall we say and leave it at that. On a side note he man looks like he has been carved from granite, my Mrs often points out : "Why don't you look like that?" I have no response to said question, I go to rugby to watch the game not perv at the players.

Visser's size and strength are visable to all who see him play. With the ball in hand he is a threat and a fantastic strike runner (he has almost caught up with Sean Lamont's number of tries scored despit playing in 60 fewer test matches). He picks fantastic lines and with his blistering speed and power he often ghosts through defences and to his credit he has been the top try scorer in the pro 12 for 3 years running.

So ends the good news and onto the bad.

Why oh why does a man of his size, speed and power not put his opposition wingers on their asses when he is defending? He bought a rediculous dummy from Vainokolo and IMO it was criminal that he did not nail his man.

Everytime someone goes 1 on 1 with Visser in Visser's channel he should be thinking :

~ oh Jeebus! I'm going to get smashed! ~

But no, Visser's tackling is shambolic at best, and it's time to be open and honest about this embarrasing short fall. I still think he is Lions material, and the Lions would be very lucky to have him on tour. But unless he shores up his woeful defence he isn't going anywhere.

Why does it all go so wrong for Visser when he is defending? Has he been poorly coached? Is he a coward? Is he frightened?

Laidlaw is a small guy, about a foot shorter than visser and nearly 6st lighter, but Laidlaw never shy's away from contact. Sure he doesn't always bring his opposite number down but he always looks commited to stopping him. Let's just say it's not his heart I doubt, rather his strength.

With Visser it's the opposite. He looks like he doesn't want to make his tackles.

Discuss......

Whos meatball?

Not wanting to go off topic but from a Welsh perspective much of the same can be said for Alex Cuthbert also. Bigger still than Visser (barely) yet woefully lacking when he needs to step up and put in a crunching hit to halt opposition momentum.

This could be irrelevant but it might be worth noting the pattern against SH opposition. NZ, Samoa and Tonga would appear to currently be leading the way in the all-round physical department, possibly through having been brought up in an environment where physicality, in attack and defence, is seen as a norm. They look far more assured and decisive at present without the need of six-and-a-half foot wingers to dominate in the abrasive stakes. The NH mentality of late is less committed, bring down the man gently in comparison and try to slow their ball down at the resulting ruck. It's just not good enough!

Quashes the myth that bigger means better though.

Citing the exceptions is lazy.

Its like saying gay men dont kiss other chaps because Michael Barrymore was married (this isnt supposed to be homophobic, if anyone mortally offended please feel free to get a mod to delete it).

It may not be a simple linear scale but size is one of the factors along with technique and aggression and not being Cipriani which contributes to the ability to tackle.

Noone would argue that 16 stone plus Samoans cant smash people. But then they are big, tough, and aggressive. The last part is partially an environmental factor, Mini Tuilagi talked about growing up playing a game where the kids would just run into each other as hard as they could. Pretty obvious where his playing style came from, could you imagine that being allowed in a liberal democrat council school? Possibly at Eton if a hot crumpet was inserted in the bum first.

I'm a stickler for players being good at the basics, but frankly we've had loads of "functional" wingers in Scottish rugby over the years, but very few with the sort of finishing power that Visser has. He's a bit of a flat track bully really, but the fact that he scores tries for fun and is full of running makes a damn sight better than James McLaren, Roland Reid, Andy Henderson, Nikki Walker, Ben Hinshelwood and all the other wingers we've had over the years who were probably all better at tackling but little else.

It's a weakness in his game, but he's so much better than any of our other options at left wing I don't think it matters much.

Can he work on it? Well I'm sure he can improve his catching of the high ball and his positioning, but I don't think we're going to turn him into an enthusiastic tackling machine.

thebluesmancometh wrote:Whos meatball?

It's Duncan Weir's nickname

I have not read all the thread but early on someone made a good point - there is a difference between tackling and defensive play - his positioning is suspect on occasion so he is not thereto make the tackle - his actual tackling is fine. I have seen him make plenty of good tackles including one where he took the ball of George North and plenty of others

for example https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Su0wgGDizQ