The second row returned from a near career ending knee injury and a 31-week lay-off last season as a hungrier, fitter and more well rounded player, before achieving his dream of becoming a full Scotland international.
The 23-year-old fell short of making Gregor Townsend’s final World Cup squad – being cut from the 41-man training group – but being a regular starter for Tigers this season, he believes strong Cup performances, starting with the Stormers fixture today, will lead to a fresh call-up next month.
He told TRP: “These are the games you want to be playing a key role in, one hundred percent, we all know it’ll be a fixture that Gregor, and equally the English selectors, will have an eye on for the Six Nations.
“You look at past fixtures in the Champions Cup, they’ve all been right up there. We played Clermont last season, then I was fortunate to be pulled into the Scotland squad, but afterward we played Ospreys, pretty much a full team of internationals, then Edinburgh at home, a full team of internationals, and finally Leinster away, against another full team of internationals.
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