Zach Carr was planning a holiday in Asia with his family this summer but was drafted into the England U20s camp for the World Championship after impressing against Georgia in the warm-ups.
Carr, 19, played well in his outings for England U19s, catching the attention of U20s head coach Mark Mapletoft who selected the back row in his squad for South Africa.
England finished fourth in the Championship and Carr was grateful to visit the Rainbow Nation and play on the big stage.
He said: “It was a bit colder than I thought it was going to be but it was a real experience. When you’re inside of it, you don’t realise how lucky you are. You take it for granted but you just need to take a step back and think about how it’s really quite amazing.
“It was a tough month. I got to play against Fiji and South Africa but subsequently facing the realities of a competitive athlete, I also had to endure not getting selected all the time. It was good, I learnt a lot and I know what I need to do next year to be a bit more involved.”
Carr is part of a strong contingent of Harlequins academy players that are on loan at London Scottish and the powerful 6ft 5in, 17st 3lbs forward is enjoying playing in the attritional Championship, while also looking to contribute for his parent club.
He said: “The standard is really good in the Championship and will be a real good step up going into U20s next year. I’ll be looking to work on my ball in hand, getting my confidence up by playing against better players which is only going to come from playing at a high level.
“London Scottish did very well to avoid relegation but they had a tough season, so I’ll be doing what I can to impact that especially with the Premiership Cup coming up as well. The aim is to start strong and get back into the U20s which is where guys my age want to be and there’s good reason for it. I came into Quins at the beginning of last season. Pre-season has been tough, we let ourselves down last year in the Premiership but we’re ready to fight for the top four and we want to win trophies.
“It’s clear from the coaches that’s going to be the aim and we’ll let other teams know.”
A physical, strong defender, Carr is hoping to improve on his ball carrying and has taken inspiration from All Blacks No.8 Ardie Savea. He added: “On the whole my strongest part is my defence, I had a couple of slips against Fiji but on the whole it’s strong. I’m quite athletic and look to work in the wide channels. So, I’ve been able to get metres in and carry hard.
“I’m focusing on my upfront collisions when attacking. My confidence will only grow with time by running into brick walls and producing what we call England ‘die hard carries’.
“Ardie Savea does it really well, he’s a bit of an anomaly but he screams when going into contact in a die hard mentality that I’d like to bring into my game. I’m quite tall so it’s quite easy for little lads to chop me but being able to prevent that is how I’m going to get better this season.”
