SCOTLAND hopeful Callum Hunter-Hill is looking to the future after being robbed of the chance to make his debut for his country.

Interim head coach Mike Blair named a 37-man squad for Scotland’s summer tests with England A, Romania and Georgia. However, each game fell by the wayside due to coronavirus outbreaks.

That left Hunter-Hill, of Gullane, and Aberlady’s Rory Darge uncapped when they had hoped to be involved in the three fixtures.

Hunter-Hill, who was previously capped for his country’s under-18s and under-20s sides, described representing Scotland as “huge”.

He said: “It is quite clichéd to talk about like that but it is massive.

“The under-20s was the pinnacle of my career at the time and just meant everything.

“Obviously, all the training you are doing is based towards playing for your team and Scotland.

“It was massive to get called into the squad, even just to train.

“It was a massive honour and hopefully I will be back again soon.

“I was talking to [former Scotland international] Tim Swinson, who I chat with quite a lot, and he was saying when you get in and are training a wee bit, you just want to be back in.

“You are so hungry to be back in the mix and the conversation as much as possible.”

The 24-year-old had been a late call-up to the Scotland squad after other players were ruled out.

Blair had already named his line-up for the clash with England, which would have seen Glasgow Warriors star Darge making his debut, with Hunter-Hill named on the bench.

However, the contest was called off, with the trips to Romania and Georgia also being cancelled, despite initial hopes they could be played.

Hunter-Hill was delighted to be involved in training with the Scotland camp but was equally keen to see his name mentioned again in the future.

He said: “It was good fun.

“It was obviously good news at the time and it was disappointing with how all the Covid stuff ended up but that is part and parcel of how the world is now.”

The Saracens star spoke to Courier Sport last week as he enjoyed some time off before the new campaign gets under way domestically.

The London club, back in the top flight of English rugby, will be looking to push towards the top of the table, having gained promotion from the Championship.

Lock forward Hunter-Hill will return to pre-season training in the next week and admitted it was not a time that anyone relished.

The former Gullane Primary School pupil played rugby as a youngster at North Berwick and then studied at Stewart’s Melville College.

He said: “I will go back to London and try to do a bit of training before pre-season. Pre-season is hell.You go in slightly off the pace and it is even more hell. I will get back in the gym for a couple of weeks and then we get back into it.”

The former Stirling County star made the switch from Edinburgh Rugby to Saracens in 2019 and has another two years on his contract with the English club.

Having played his part in getting Saracens promoted, he was looking forward to the new campaign, which will see his club face last season’s table-toppers Bristol Bears in the opening fixture on September 17.

Hunter-Hill said: “It is a tough start; a really, really tough start.”