Edinburgh flyer Visser has been ruled out until possibly mid-February with a leg break and his absence has made room for Seymour to make his first Murrayfield appearance in Dark Blue as Japan arrive in the Scottish capital to kick off the Autumn Tests.
But While Seymour is the man in possession of Visser’s slot for now, he claims the likes of Saracens untility back Duncan Taylor – who starts Saturday’s clash with the Brave Blossoms on the bench – or Edinburgh rival Tom Brown could easily take it from him in future.
Asked if Visser’s injury was an opportunity for him to claim a starting berth come next year’s RBS 6 Nations, the 25-year-old told Press Association Sport: “I don’t worry too much about other players’ injuries and what’s going on with them.
“We have got a lot of talent in Scotland running through the back three but there’s a couple of them out with Tim and Stuart Hogg both injured.
“But we have other good players waiting to come in so I can’t take anything for granted. I can’t take one player being injured as a sign I’m going to play – it doesn’t really work like that.
“I’ve got to make sure that regardless of who is fit and who is not, I’ve take my chance to keep my spot for future games.”
Seymour is one of two players set to make their home bow in front of the Edinburgh crowd at the weekend, with Warriors team-mate Tim Swinson starting at lock.
Kelly Brown skippers the side once more while British and Irish Lion Sean Maitland fills in for Hogg, another member of the touring party which successfully beat Australia this summer, who misses out with a wrist injury.
While the Lions were winning 2-1 Down Under, Scotland were taking part in a four-team tournament in South Africa.
Both Swinson and Seymour won their first caps in the Scots’ second match, a 30-17 defeat to the Sprinboks, but tasted their first victory with a narrow win over Italy in the third-place play-off.
Now Seymour says he will fulfil a long-held ambition as he runs out in the Scottish capital for the first time as a Scotland player.
“I’m hugely honoured to get this chance,” he said after being named in the starting XV by head coach Scott Johnson. “Every professional player wants to represent their country at their home stadium. It is something that will live with you forever.
“Since I won my first two caps in the summer, playing at Murrayfield was something I wanted to do and it gave me the hunger to carry on working. Thankfully I’ve got that opportunity now. “
Scotland will follow up the Japan clash with Tests against South Africa and Australia.
The first two matches offer the side the chance to examine their likely opponents at the 2015 World Cup and Seymour says the team are determined to give both the Japanese – who are not quite qualified yet – and Springboks something to fear.
He said: “This is a huge chance for us to put down a marker ahead of the World Cup. We haven’t blown over the fact that we are playing two of the teams we will likely be facing in 2015.
“We want to make sure that come the tournament, we have confidence going in against those teams. We know that 22-months down line we will face them again and we want to let them know what is coming.
“Japan are first up on Saturday and they are not the minnows some people would have you believe. Not at all.
“They beat Wales there in the summer and that is a huge result for Japan. Wales are one of the tops sides in the world having won the Six Nations and reached the World Cup semis.
“It would be very dangerous of us to think they will be anything less than a quality Test nation who will give us a quality game.
“You look at the way their game has developed with their physicality and their interplay in the backs and you can see their style is influenced a lot by the Southern Hemisphere sides.
“Some people might consider them a second-tier nation but we know how hard the game will be.”
Article source: http://www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/Gloucester-Rugby-Jonny-Bentley-set-Munster/story-19958539-detail/story.html
Rugby - Seymour set for Scotland start
No comments:
Post a Comment