Arron Reed relishing ‘big challenge’ of pinning down Scotland starting berth

Sale wing Arron Reed hopes his double against Portugal on Saturday can help in his quest to move up the Scotland pecking order amid intense competition for a back-three berth.

The 25-year-old earned his first call-up ahead of the Six Nations but played no part in the championship before winning his first two caps against Canada and Chile on the summer Tour of the Americas.

After scoring a double on his debut against the Canucks in Ottawa, Reed marked his third cap and his first outing at Murrayfield on Saturday with another couple of tries either side of the hour mark as Gregor Townsend’s much-changed side eased to a 59-21 win over their Portuguese visitors.

“I’ve been in the past three camps and the campaigns have been good, but I didn’t get a chance in the Six Nations, then obviously I got a chance in the summer,” he said. “Getting these chances and scoring tries, like you’re obviously putting your name out there.

“There’s obviously lads are ahead of me at the moment who were obviously playing really well too so it’s really good competition. But, yeah, it’s definitely good to get my name out there.”

Reed is vying for a slot on the wing with Duhan van der Merwe and Darcy Graham, who are now Scotland’s two joint-highest try-scorers of all time, as well as Glasgow captain Kyle Steyn.

Blair Kinghorn and Kyle Rowe – although more often used at full-back for Scotland – are also contenders to play on the wing.

“It doesn’t get any easier but getting all that competition will make me a better player in the end because I’ll end up having to compete even harder and harder in training and stuff,” said Reed, when asked to summarise the scale of his task in trying to become established at Test level.

“It’s not easy but it is what it is. It’s a big challenge. It’s obviously something I’m aiming to do but at the moment the boys have been playing really well in my position.

“I’ve just got to carry on doing what I’m doing. When I get a chance, I’ve got to take it every time and hopefully that will push myself forward.”

England-born Reed qualifies for Scotland through his Linlithgow-born father and he admitted his first taste of Murrayfield – with 60,000 people in attendance – has whetted his appetite for more involvement.

“I’ve not played in front of that many people before,” he said. “Obviously I played in the summer tour but there wasn’t that many people and that many Scottish people.

“It was just goosebumps, pure goosebumps. It was amazing. I want to do it every week. I loved every second of it.”