NORTH Berwick rugby star Lewis Carmichael has reflected on the “pretty surreal” experience of making his international debut on the summer tour.

Carmichael became the 1,095th player to represent Scotland when he came off the bench with 20 minutes to go in the win over Canada last month.

The former North Berwick High School pupil helped himself to a try on his Test bow.

Now back from the tour, Carmichael talked Courier Sport through his first international try: “I just ran a line and Magnus [Bradbury] hit me with a pass pretty late.

“It opened up and it was like slow motion – the line was just getting closer and closer.

“I couldn’t believe it.”

The 23-year-old added that his heart was “racing” when he got the call that he’d be replacing his Edinburgh Rugby team-mate Ben Toolis for the final quarter of the 10-48 win.

“I was warming up and got a shout of ‘Lewis, you’re going on’ and as I was going back [to get stripped off] my heart was racing.”

Immediately after the game, Lewis met his dad Bill and family friend Derek Grierson, who attended the post-match function and saw the lock presented with his international cap.

“That was pretty special,” Carmichael added.

A week later, a dream tour continued when the 23-year-old was handed his first Test start as Scotland took on USA in Houston.

But Carmichael was “pretty frustrated” with his, and the team’s, performance as Scotland lost 30-29.

He said: “Fair play to the USA, they deserved to win, but I’m not sure there’s many of us from one to 15 who could be pleased with our performances.

“We didn’t play very well, which was frustrating.”

The following day, the county star was chosen in a reduced 28-man squad to travel to Argentina for the final match of the tour.

Although he didn’t make it into the 23-man squad, Carmichael said it was a “good experience”.

And he admitted to being frustrated again when fellow lock Tim Swinson’s match was ended in the fourth minute by a serious knee injury.

He added: “Obviously it’s more frustrating for Tim and I felt sorry for him – nobody wants a Test match to end like that, but it was frustrating.

“It was a good win for the boys though, and they played well.”

Carmichael told Courier Sport he’s had only a “brief chat” with national team coach Gregor Townsend about his long-term international prospects.

“Gregor said they were pleased at how I’d done and that I just needed to keep working hard,” Carmichael, a product of North Berwick RFC, said.

He added: “He’s said there might be opportunities in the back-row or the second row.

“I’ve not played much in the back-row – I had a few games with Edinburgh at the start of last season and a few with Melrose but it’s not massively different to the second row.

“I just want to work hard with Edinburgh and we’ll see what happens.”

After enjoying his summer holidays, Carmichael has now returned to pre-season training.