Tim Visser and Sean Maitland are bringing a bit of un-Scottish positivity to the national team, believes the Dutch-born winger.
Visser, with five tries in just seven games for his adopted country, has teamed up in a new back three with Maitland and Stuart Hogg that has caught the imagination of European rugby in the first two games of this year’s RBS 6 Nations, and the trio can expect to be marked men against Ireland at Murrayfield on Sunday.
However, the Edinburgh wing believes he and Maitland’s different background offers something different to their team mates.
“Sean is a very positive guy and that is something I would like to pride myself on as well,” said Visser. “Scottish people like to be underdogs and really like to come from that angle but in Holland it is very much different.
“We are often perceived as being arrogant but we are just very positive and like to think we can do things. That is something I have seen in Sean as well.
“He is very positive but far, far away from arrogant. He knows what he can do, he believes in himself and the rest of the team and that is something we can all definitely learn from.”
There’s a bit of friendly banter between the three strike weapons as to who is the quickest but Visser freely admits that Maitland is a more rounded player than he is.
“Sean is more of an all-round player than me, pretty solid in defence, and a good attacker,” he said.
“We all have a lot of things to work on, and he is the same as anybody else, but he is very balanced as a player and that is something he has picked up from his background.
“We all wear GPS units during training so we can see what our speed is at, and everybody likes to keep an eye on that. Hoggy is definitely slowest, but then again he’s scored two length of the field tries in as many games, and they’ve been out of this world. It’s close between Sean and me, but I think I’m fastest!”
Visser does believe that the try-scoring may have served to overshadow some of Scotland’s deficiencies.
“Scott Johnson has pinpointed a few areas and he makes it very easy to see what we need to improve on,” he said. “The coaches have promised us if we get these areas right then we will start to win Test matches, and everybody believes in that.
“We need to get these fundamentals right to beat the better teams and that is maybe slightly disguised by the tries we have scored. Everything is positive just now but this match was always going to be tougher than Italy was.
“We are not getting carried away with that win. Ireland are much better in defence and it will be hard for us to break them down.”
Visser knows from playing regularly against all four Irish provinces that wins don’t come easy.
“Ireland are traditionally a strong country in the Six Nations and have a lot of experience and talent,” he continued. “Ulster have come on in recent years and are now one of Europe’s superteams.
“Leinster and Munster are very physical and competing at the highest level and that shines through in the Ireland team.
“They may have lost a bit of talent for this week because of injury and suspension but anybody who steps up for them will be full of passion and won’t be far off the mark.
“We are not underestimating them at all. Whatever Ireland team turns up at Murrayfield it is likely to be a good one.”