You don't have to spend much time with Tommy Seymour to figure out that the fellow has moved about a bit during his 26 years on earth.

His "dodgy accent" (the term is his own) bears witness to the fact he spent his early years in America, a few more years in Northern Ireland, and has lately put down roots in Glasgow. A forensic linguist - they do exist - might even find evidence of his time in Dubai, but that element of his background eludes the casual listener.

Yet this lad of far-flung parts is adamant that his allegiance to Scotland has been absolute and unwavering since he moved back across the Irish Sea birth four years ago. He is, he admits, something of a mummy's boy, so the chance to represent the land of his mother Sue's birth is something he savours, but he is also grateful that the switch breathed life into a rugby career that had been going nowhere in particular while he was on the books at Ulster.

Their loss. Kenny Logan reckons that Seymour is the best winger Scotland has unearthed since, well, quite a long time ago. Seymour is no monster, and nor does he boast the kind of flaring pace that would strike fear into Usain Bolt, but he brings old-fashioned craft and guile to the touchline trade and he reads the game superbly. He has matured late, but his quality is beyond question.

He's sharp, too. It would be the easiest thing in the world for Seymour to claim that he grew up dreaming of Murrayfield, but it would also be thoroughly unconvincing. As a youngster in Tyrella, County Down, he aspired to wear green rather than blue, beguiled by the emergence of that gilded generation of Irish players - and, particularly, Irish backs - that included Geordan Murphy, Denis Hickie, Shane Horgan and, most blessed of all, Brian O'Driscoll.

"Obviously it was natural [to support Ireland]," said Seymour of those teenage times. "We were in Ireland, I hadn't come across rugby until then so that's when my entry point was. It would be unnatural for me to say that it wasn't. I supported Ireland when I was growing up, just like the rest of my school mates."

His ardour was not reciprocated. Seymour turned out for the Irish under-19 team, but he was a peripheral figure at the next level up. Just to make things harder still, he suffered two hamstring tears that hampered his chances of finding a place in Ireland's Junior World Cup squad, although he can smile about the setbacks now. "They left me too much ground to make up to get back in time for the World Cup," he said. "There were obviously better guys there as well. They went and I got left behind."

Ireland might regret that oversight now. Yes, they have the RBS 6 Nations title in their sights, but they let a good 'un go when Seymour, who had made just a handful of appearances for Ulster, slipped away to sign for Glasgow Warriors.

Seymour always had the option of cashing in on the fact he drew his first breath in Nashville, but he seems to consider his American heritage to be little more than an accident of birth. Had he made more of it, he would almost certainly be looking forward to representing the US Eagles in this year's World Cup, but their scouts were a little slow out of the blocks.

"I don't know about the USA side of things," Seymour shrugged. "Whether they came to head coaches or whatever. But I made it abundantly clear when I moved over that my aim was to play for Scotland. I wanted to play in this tournament. I certainly never got any personal contact, so this feels like the way it was meant to be and I'm very happy with it.

"It was very infectious the way the Scotland boys would play at a regional level, and obviously having so many Scotland boys at Glasgow, then coming into that, it was just a great culture and a great way of playing for each other.

"There was a drive about it, there was a unity that just crept in and became part of you as well. It felt very natural to be like that, so then getting the inclusion in the Scotland squad just heightened it. As the years have progressed there has been no let up. It's just become more and more passionate within me."

And yet, with Ireland heading to Murrayfield this weekend with a second successive championship title in their sights, and with Scotland in the wearily familiar position of battling to avoid the wooden spoon, it would be understandable if Seymour occasionally asked himself if he made the right decision when he threw in his lot with the Scots in 2011.

Outwardly, though, he still maintains the zeal of the convert. Four straight defeats in this year's championship have not dented his faith

"We have raised the bar," said Seymour firmly. "We have raised expectations, which was the aim from the autumn. We have raised that bar and everyone is now judging us from that.

"That's the way we should be judged. But we now need to start producing performances that get to that standard or exceed it. The expectation is to exceed it because that's how you progress. If we can do these things we will start moving again in the right direction."