Wallabies prop Harry Johnson-Holmes has had a whirlwind week, so it was fitting that his ultimate debut came earlier than expected as well.

Johnson-Holmes didn’t land in South Africa until late on Wednesday, after having his $8 schnitty night halted by a request from Wallabies coach Michael Cheika to pack his bags and head to Johannesburg.

The 22-year-old was named on the bench just two days later and on Saturday was ready to play his first Test.

When starting loosehead James Slipper was helped off for a HIA test in the 49th minute, Johnson-Holmes had barely had time to contemplate the situation.

“I suppose that was almost the most nerve wracking thing, you come all this way and a lot of luck was involved in me being in the position of being on the bench but getting on the field was a whole other thing,” he said.

“I remember sitting on the bench and thinking to myself, ‘I’ve probably got about 15-20 minutes before I’ve got to start actually thinking about the mental side of jumping onto the field’, but it was a couple of seconds later that I found myself out in the scrum and went from there as a bit of a blur.”

The front rower was grateful that it was a scrum he found himself in first, though it was certainly no breezy evening at the office.

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