Guest Blogger: The rise of Tommy Seymour

Guest blogger The Pen takes a look at the rise of Tommy Seymour.

In 2011 Glasgow signed an American born lad from Ulster who’d not really set the heather alight. He’d made 7 appearances and scored one try.

Now to the untrained eye, that doesn’t say world class finisher, Scotland international and contender for the Lions but in the 5 years since he joined Glasgow, Tommy Seymour has become just that.

He’s not the biggest winger in the world, but he does have a cracking turn of pace and as wingers in the modern game begin to resemble second row forwards, what he lacks in physical stature he more than makes up for by having an incredible rugby brain.

Seymour is the kind of player that every fan loves. Gives his all, plays almost every game and he never seems to have an off night or a scoring drought.

His signing for Glasgow in 2011 was reasonably low key. The 2010/11 season was one to forget and not much in the way of success was expected. After a reasonably quiet first season where he scored only 2 tries in 10 appearances, he scored 7 in 11 games in the 2012/13 season and earned himself a call-up to the Scotland squad and his first appearance against the Springboks on tour in South Africa.

He was an integral part of the Glasgow side that reached their first Pro12 final in 2014 but was not to leave a winner on that occasion. Just 12 months later though he’d find himself back at his original stomping ground in Ulster and this time the outcome was very different as Glasgow swept Munster aside. While his scoring record that season was not as good as the previous year, Seymour cemented himself as a Scotland regular.

Although the 2015/16 season saw his lowest try total to date of just 2, Tommy was on red hot form for Scotland at the 2015 Rugby World Cup and scored in all but one of Scotland’s matches and every game he played in as he was missing for the USA game.

This season has so far seen Seymour dot the ball down 7 times in 5 games including an impressive 4 try haul against Leinster. Should he continue in this rich vein of form, then he must be in with a shout of being a starter against New Zealand in the Lions first test, never mind being on the plane to make up the numbers. As a Scotsman, I’d love to see him in the starting line-up with his Warriors colleague Stuart Hogg at 15. These two have an amazing telepathy and anyone who watched their double act against Connacht at the start of this season should be drooling at the prospect of that.

I’ve branded Tommy a poacher in the past and that to me is a very true and fair statement. It’s not at all meant in a derogatory way. What I mean is that even when it looks like nothing is on, Seymour always has an eye on the ball and the number of interception tries he scores is quite amazing.

On international duty, Seymour excels and in 29 appearances in the Dark Blue, he’s crossed the whitewash 13 times, including 5 consecutive Test matches, a feat achieved by very few Scots but notably by his current coach and soon to be Scotland boss Gregor Townsend.

The biggest worry I have about Tommy’s game is that he’s making himself very noticeable and almost impossible to ignore. At a time when the English and French games are able to attract the very best in the world and pay them significantly more that the SRU can, wouldn’t many of the top teams in both leagues be attracted by a winger in the prime of his career and the form of his life?

If Seymour does decide in the near future that he’s achieved all he can at Scotstoun then of course the fans would wish him well but for a fan base that has already lost DTH Van Der Merwe and struggled to replace him, I can imagine there would be many a broken heart if he packed his bags and headed South.

Until then, let’s just enjoy watching the Tennessee tornado tearing it up in the Pro12.

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