Will Walker of Kesteven Rugby Club makes his first appearance for the Ireland student rugby league side

Irish eyes were smiling on a Grantham rugby player after a memorable international debut.

Will Walker scored two tries on his first appearance for the Ireland student rugby league side in their test match against Scotland.

Despite a 36-22 reversal in the first of two matches between the countries, Walker was named man of the match after a dream debut.

He said: "It was such a phenomenal experience putting on the green jersey and singing the national anthem of Ireland's call.

"The whole team gelled together straight away throughout the weekend and we cannot wait to play the return fixture in Belfast in two weeks."

Walker can usually be found playing scrum half for Kesteven Rugby Union Club, near Grantham, and is a regular in the men's first team.

However, after moving to study at Loughborough University two years ago, he decided to take up rugby league as well.

Walker explained: "I have been playing rugby union since as early as I can remember.

"However, with rugby league, I only started playing at university with Loughborough two years ago.

"I decided to come down to the trials in freshers week of my first year and haven't looked back since."

Walker qualified to represent Ireland through his grandparents who closely followed his career.

He added: "My coach at Loughborough was asking me about putting my name forward for international honours after a good start to my second year at university.

"After going to Ireland to visit my grandparents all my life, and them being a big part of my rugby journey, I wanted to do them proud and decided to trial for Ireland students.

"The trials were a long process but I eventually achieved my call up to play two tests against Scotland.

"I was very happy with my performance and scoring two tries on my international debut with my family watching made me very proud.

"The Ireland coach giving me man of the match just rounded the whole weekend off.

"I also got to keep a signed shirt of all the lads I played with, meaning that I will never forget this experience."

Walker has been with Kesteven since 2018 having joined from Newark and helped them gain promotion to Counties 1 Midlands East (North) last season.

He continued: "I came to Kesteven when I was low on confidence after breaking my arm and not having the best rugby experience toward the tail end of Newark so decided it was time for a change of scenery.

"From juniors to now playing for the senior side, the lads and the coaches have been second to none and I've loved every minute of it."

Kesteven were 27-7 winners at Burton 2nds on Saturday and have a home match with Nuneaton Edwardians this weekend.