JONNY Arr admits his last-minute call-up to the Championship XV squad came as a complete surprise – and he is looking to savour the experience.

Worcester Warriors’ 25-year-old scrum-half was drafted in as a replacement for Jersey’s Ryan Glynn ahead of tomorrow’s match against Canada at Sixways.

He is one of three number nines in the party, along with Tom Kessell from Cornish Pirates and London Scottish’s Miles Mantella, and is ready to make the most of his first representative honour since winning the 2008 Six Nations Grand Slam with the England Under-20s.

Arr said: “It’s all moved pretty quickly. I was sitting at home last Saturday afternoon and I got a phone call from Dean Ryan, who said a chance had come up for me to get involved with the lads. and It was one I jumped at.

“It was completely out of the blue. I had a missed call from Dean so the first thing I wondered was if I was in trouble in any way. It was a complete surprise but a nice one.

“It is a nice little accolade and it’s nice to be part of something different. Things like this don’t come along very often at all and there’s a chance at the end of it to play against an international side.

“For those reasons, it would have been hard to turn down when the opportunity came on Saturday.”

The former Royal Grammar School Worcester pupil continued: “It’s special. I can’t say I’ve achieved a huge deal in my career so it’s certainly up there with getting capped at 20s level and being involved with the successful Worcester team that won promotion back into the Premiership.

“I’m looking to get as much enjoyment out of it as possible. It’s away from my routine of being around the club at Worcester.

“You never know what’s going to come your way in the future and I may look back on this and it may have been a really good opportunity that I decided to take. Who knows where I’ll go from here?”

Despite Arr’s call up coming late in the day, Martin Haag, the Nottingham coach who will take charge of the team along with Moseley coach Kevin Maggs, believes he has a lot to offer.

Haag said: “It’s great to have him on board. He’s someone who has got huge amounts of experience.”