The 24-year-old made his debut in Scotlands summer tour Down Under as a substitute against Samoa before replacing the injured Chris Paterson at full-back in both Test matches against Australia.

He now hopes Williams will retain his services for the home matches against Japan, Australia and South Africa in November.

Southwell said: I didnt expect what happened to me in Australia, its definitely taken me by surprise but Im obviously happy.

I came up to Edinburgh on trial for five weeks and its all happened from there so its very exciting.

I came up here originally with the hope of eventually playing for Scotland but I didnt think it would happen as quickly.

I didnt expect to have such a good season for Edinburgh in terms of playing so many games, I ended up being involved in almost every match.

I then got selected to go on tour and it all went from there, a meteoric rise from where I was at the beginning of the year.

I was confident I could do it, but this time last year I didnt expect to have three caps under my belt, he added.

Southwell, however, admits he is going to have to continue to impress if he wants to keep his place in the Scotland squad when everyone is back to full fitness.

He said: Im not established now, not at all.

There were injuries to players like Chris Paterson, Robbie Kydd and Simon Danielli so while obviously it was great to get an opportunity, no way have I established myself in the team.

Im going to have to work very hard in the coming months with Edinburgh to maintain any sort of position in the Scotland set-up.

It can quickly turn around. If I dont have a good start with Edinburgh it could blow up in my face.

So I have to make sure that when I start training I focus on a good start and thats as far as Im looking.

The tour is in the past and I have to look at whats in front of me and the next two or three months are going to be key for me.

Its made me more hungry to go further and become an established player but thats a long way off at the moment. But hopefully Ive put down something for the future.