Sydney Uni lock Matt Phillip didn’t expect to be in South Africa on the weekend and he certainly didn’t expect to make his Super Rugby debut just minutes into the Western Force’s clash against the Cheetahs.

After being called into the squad as an injury replacement, Phillip was thrown into the match after just two minutes when Rory Walton was sent to the blood bin.

“It was unreal, dream come true really,” he said. “It came a bit earlier than I expected but I grabbed the opportunity and was pretty stoked with how it all went,” he told Western Force media.

“I was definitely a bit nervous when Rory (Walton) came off there and had a few butterflies but I think after that first lineout I settled down and got straight into it.”

The former Australian Schoolboys and Australian Under 20s representative trained with the injury riddled Force for several weeks in June and did enough to earn a spot in the sides touring party to South Africa.

“I just got a call about two months ago asking if I would be interested in a training opportunity with the Force and I said definitely. I was playing for Sydney Uni in New South Wales at the time and I was never going to pass this opportunity up and obviously it’s gone pretty well so far getting my first Super Rugby cap so I’m stoked to be here.”

Phillip was a standout for the Sydney Stars in last year’s NRC but the 198cm, 106kg 22-year old admitted Super Rugby was a big step up.

“It has been a bit of an adjustment, I think club rugby is quite physical and NRC is really fast and Super Rugby is a combination of the two and there are some really talented players with good skills so it’s just on another level.”

With a handful of Force forwards set to leave the club at the end of the season, Phillip has the opportunity to earn a full time contract in the coming weeks.

“From here I just want to keep putting my name forward and keep training hard so that if the opportunity does come around again I can put my hand up and be ready to do my job for the team. And if I do that the goal is definitely to land a contract.”