Shock Scotland call-up will put sheep-shearing on hold after ignoring initial Gregor Townsend phonecall

The sheep-shearing will have to wait. Patrick Harrison could have been working on the family farm this summer but instead he will be playing rugby for Scotland on their tour of the Americas.

The Edinburgh hooker, one of ten uncapped players in the squad, admits he was taken aback to be included, so much so that he ignored the initial phone call from Gregor Townsend, the national coach.

“I just got the call on the way back from training,” he explained. “Gregor had phoned me and it was an unknown number so I didn’t answer it. But I pulled in and saw his face on the profile picture on WhatsApp and thought, ‘I’d better phone that number back’. That was pretty surreal. It was a nice call to get.

Edinburgh hooker Patrick Harrison is one of ten uncapped players in the Scotland squad for the summer Tour of the Americas. (Photo by Ross Parker / SNS Group)

“I’d say it’s always a goal if you grow up in Scotland to play for Scotland. This year, though, has been mainly about trying to do well for Edinburgh. Scotland was never in the back of my mind so it was a bit of a surprise.”

Harrison, 22, is the youngest of the four hookers in the squad and won his call-up on the back of some strong performances for Edinburgh’s second team. He has found his opportunities in the top side limited, appearing just three times off the bench in the season just ended, although he did feature more often during the previous campaign.

“I was in the academy and my first year as a pro was last season,” said Harrison. “There are some top-quality international hookers at Edinburgh so it is just about trying to learn from them as much as you can to make sure you are ready when you get that shot.”

At club level, he is competing with Ewan Ashman and Dave Cherry for the No 2 jersey, both experienced internationals, and Ashman is also part of the Scotland tour squad. The other hookers joining Harrison and Ashman on the four-match jaunt to North and South America are Northampton Saints’ Robbie Smith, who is uncapped, and Dylan Richardson of South African side the Sharks, who has one cap.

“It is the first time I have met Robbie and Dylan – they are good lads – and obviously I know Ewan from Edinburgh, so it definitely helps to have that good group to help each other through when we are doing extras, and to pick up on tips off each other, throwing techniques and things like that,” said Harrison, who is a product of Peebles RFC and made his debut for the Borders club at 17. He made his first-team bow for Edinburgh a year later and is the youngest hooker in the club’s history. Scotland under-20 honours quickly followed and he scored an impressive eight tries in eight appearances for the U20s.

Borders players were conspicuously absent from the Scotland team during this year’s Six Nations but the inclusion of Harrison, Rory Sutherland and Glen Young in the tour squad gives the region a more healthy representation. Harrison’s agricultural background feels like a throwback to the days when Scotland selected regularly from Borders farms and the hooker still helps out on the family concern.

“If I wasn’t playing rugby I’d be back there out on the fields,” he said. “I still work there on my days off to give a helping hand.

“It’s a dairy and sheep farm and it’s fairly busy. I still stay there most of the time, living in the family home, and I help out when I go back. I’m sitting in the tractor mostly but back in the day it would be chucking bales about.

“It’s especially busy during lambing season which is fairly hands-on. I did a wee bit of shearing sheep a year or two ago and I'd say that was definitely the hardest bit.”

With the Scotland squad shorn of some of its big beasts for the summer tour it’s a chance for younger players like Harrison to stake a claim. The team flies out to Canada on Saturday and will face the Canadians in the tour opener in Ottawa a week later. Then it’s off to Washington DC to play the United States on July 12, followed by Chile in Santiago on July 20 and Uruguay in Montevideo on July 27.

Townsend intends to trim his 37-man squad for the South American leg and will select a team of Scottish-based players only for the game against the Uruguayans which falls outside the recognised Test window and which almost certainly guarantees Harrison a cap.