Rory Scott was preparing a Schoolies trip to the coast when his phone started to ring. On the other end was the Australian Schoolboys asking him to pack his bags straight away.
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So instead of joining his mates for a Year 12 getaway on the South Coast, Scott was on a plane to Europe on Saturday to join the Australian side for its tour.
The schoolboys will play games in Ireland and Scotland, with back-rower Scott a late addition a week after the 27-man squad started the tour.
It was an unexpected call for the Marist College Student, who thought he would be planning the start of his university degree instead of tour the world.
"At first I didn't know what to do. I was unsure if I should go because I've got sevens commitments as well, but in the end we all agreed I'd go on the tour," Scott said.
"It's pretty exciting, but daunting as well coming into a squad I'm not 100 per cent sure about everything.
"We were planning a trip for after school at the same time as I knew I'd be going away, so I couldn't do that. All [my mates] are still going down there without me."
Scott will link up with ACT teammates Zane Hogan and Brendan Jimenez, who flew to Europe with the rest of the team last week.
They played Munster last week and will now play Ulster and the Ireland under-19s team in Dublin before clashes against the Scotland under-19s and Scotland Schoolboys in Glasgow.
It's a rapid rise for Scott, who only started playing rugby when his mates suggested he have a go because he looked like he would be good at the new sport.
A former gymnast, Scott's power has impressed coaches in the Brumbies gym and he has been a part of the academy program, the ACT schoolboys, the Australian Barbarians and the youth sevens squad in the past two years.
The 18-year-old will train with the Brumbies academy program this year and is also keen to pursue the sevens format as well.
"The sevens is pretty exciting, I like it because I can run with the ball more and experiment a bit as well," Scott said.
"I've thought about that [pathway] a little bit and the Olympics when I was doing other sports, like rowing. But maybe something happens, maybe it doesn't. It would be pretty cool if it did.
"I always just try to have fun and enjoy it. It's hard to say [about the standard], I haven't played that much school rugby. So I'll just be guessing going into it, but still enjoy it."
