Christie: It has been a massive rollercoaster
21 Jan 2022Saracens back-rower Andy Christie has had a week to remember.
A phone call from Scotland Head Coach Gregor Townsend at the start of the week led to a second call on Tuesday and on Wednesday he was named in the Scotland squad for the upcoming Guinness Six Nations.
The 22-year-old, who has represented Scotland at U16 level, will now meet up with the Scotland squad on Sunday for a training camp ahead of the Calcutta Cup clash with England at BT Murrayfield on 5 February.
Speaking on this week’s Official Scottish Rugby Podcast, Christie said: “It’s not sunk in at all yet, it doesn’t really feel real too be fair, it’s crazy, it’s absolutely crazy and I can’t believe it.
“This season I’ve only really consistently started games and playing regularly for Sarries [Saracens], so I guess I’ve just been taking things step-by-step, so I didn’t expect anything like this to come so soon.”
Christie thought the first phone call from Townsend was just to see how he was getting and he hoped he might be involved in a training camp, but 24 hours later that all changed and he was one of 39 players to be called-up to the national team.
He added: “I only spoke to Gregor [Townsend] for the first time two days ago [Monday]. He gave me a call and said he wanted to get to know me a bit and get a feel for what I was like.
“I had a really nice chat with him, a really honest chat and he said I’d been playing well and would I be keen to be in the mix. I didn’t actually think think much of it, I thought he was just touching base and the squad is there and that’s that. I obviously said yes, if there was any opportunity I’d be absolutely buzzing. I thought it might be getting in for a training camp to get a feel for it.
“Then he called me yesterday [Tuesday]. As soon as training finished I saw I’d had a missed call from him so I went upstairs into a private room and called him and he just said, ‘congratulations’ and gave me a load of feedback, which I didn’t listen to at all because I was too busy laughing and crying and just being happy. It has been a massive rollercoaster.”
