The former Gunnedah junior looked every bit the star in the making he has been touted as in his Super Rugby debut on Friday night.

The 20-year old was one of the Queensland Reds' best in their three-point loss to the Brumbies, scoring a try, making some good metres, showing some good touches and earning big wraps from the likes of former Wallabies Tim Horan and Rod Kafer.

Speaking post-match on the Fox Sports coverage, Horan described Wilson as "a great find" at number eight and his debut as "very good".

In searing temperatures (it was 39 degrees at kick-off) , he had the most run metres of any of the Reds forwards, making 77m (according to the Fox Sports stats) with four tackle busts and one line break and was named by RUGBY.com.au at No.8 in their Super Rugby team of the week.

Currently in South Africa preparing for the Reds' clash with the Lions on Sunday morning (Australian time) Wilson described making his debut as "really special".

"It was a great feeling being out there and something I'll never forget," he said.

The realisation of a childhood dream, it was everything he'd hoped it would be, except for the result, the Reds going down 27-24.

"It was a lot faster and more physical but I loved every second of it," he said, highlighting the pace of the game as the biggest step up.

In an endorsement of how well he was playing, Wilson was kept on by coach Brad Thorn for the 80 minutes.

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"I was happy to play the 80 and was happy with most parts (of his performance), but I had a few errors in there which was quite frustrating," he said.

In a see-sawing tussle, after being on the back foot early, the Reds fought back to lead by 10 at half-time only to concede 20 unanswered points to trail 27-17 with around 10 to play.

Enter Wilson. After a great run from James O'Connor to have the Brumbies defence on the back foot, he ran a great line and crashed his way over from a five metres out to, with the conversion, make it a three point game with four minutes to go.

"It was nice to score [but] would of loved it to be the winning try!," he said.

He had spoken beforehand about making his debut being reward for all the hard work and sacrifice, and that he chose the right sport to put his heart and soul into.

It was a reference to his cricketing pedigree, Wilson holding the record for the fastest century in Queensland GPS cricket. Playing for St Joseph's College Gregory Terrace in a game against Ipswich Grammar School, he smacked 100 off 35 balls.

"I always loved my cricket and it was something I took very serious. I kind of had to chose from a cricket team and a rugby team in Year 11, and I chose rugby, so very happy with that decision now," Wilson said.

He said the Reds will take a lot of confidence from the fact that they didn't play their best game and only lost by three.

His first time in South Africa he said it has been good fun so far.

"We've had some nice dinners and went on a little safari trip," he said.

"Looking forward to the weeks ahead".

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