WINGER Tim Visser knows he needs to stop the man he calls “a freak of nature” if Scotland are to beat Wales this afternoon for the first time since 2007. It is a while since Visser, now with Harlequins, came up against George North, but he has not forgotten what a tough competitor the Welshman is.

“I played against him in the past when he was at Scarlets and I was at Edinburgh, but I don’t think I’ve played against him when he’s been at Northampton,” said Visser, who is on the left wing in place of the injured Sean Maitland. “George is a big, physical guy - a bit of a freak of nature, to be honest. He’s an established international and Lions player and we all know what he’s going to bring.”

At 6ft 4in and more than 17 stone, North is one of the most physically imposing backs in the game - and Visser is renowned for his finishing ability rather than his defence. But the Dutch-born No 11 is confident that Scotland can end that decade-long wait for a win against the Welsh, and insisted that defeat in France had done nothing to dent the squad’s confidence.

“I’m the eternal optimist,” he said. “The stats don’t lie: Wales are a good team. We’ve had some narrow defeats against them in recent years - I remember losing here by three points a couple of years back.

“Going to the Millennium Stadium is hard, but it’s always a different game at Murrayfield. I remember last year at this time against France and it was a similar story - 10 years [without a win], but we beat them. I’m the eternal optimist, but it’s going to be a tough game.

“You’ve got to take losses in your stride and move forward,” Visser continued when asked about the defeat in Paris two weeks ago. “We’ve done that. We’re by no means the finished article and no one in the team will say that, but we have to stay confident.

“The Ireland game [which Scotland won 27-22] was really uplifting and it was brilliant to start with that win. We were full of confidence going to France and with our recent track record against them you’d have hoped we could pick up a win there, which we obviously didn’t. But there’s a lot of confidence going into this game.

“It’s always tough to take a defeat in a game you went into feeling confident, and we went over to Paris to try and win there, no secret in that. To not get that result was tough, but it’s a long campaign and especially nowadays with the new rules concerning losing bonus points it’s very important you see out every game.”