Patrick Harrison initially rejected ‘surreal’ Scotland call-up

Edinburgh hooker Patrick Harrison has revealed he initially rejected the phone call regarding his “surreal” Scotland call-up as he did not recognise head coach Gregor Townsend’s number.

The 22-year-old will fly out this weekend for a tour that will include matches against Canada, the United States, Uruguay and Chile.

“We’re on the way back from training,” he explained. “It was actually Gregor who phoned me and it was an unknown number. I didn’t see who it was. I didn’t answer it.

“And then when I saw his face in the profile pic, I said, ‘I better phone that number back’.”

Harrison was playing for Peebles five years ago and had to pinch himself when he was called up.

“Yeah, pretty, pretty surreal to be fair to think about that,” he said. “I’ve been at Edinburgh for four years coming up. That’s been a fair bit of of work in the last four years.

“It’s always a goal growing up in Scotland to play for Scotland. It was never really in the back of my mind. It was a bit of a surprise.”