Benjamin James Cairns made his Scotland debut in the first Test of the two-match series in Argentina in June 2008. The Scots lost that match in Rosario by 15-21, but Ben played a strong role in the 26-14 victory in Buenos Aires a week later.

Later in the year he added to his cap tally by playing in the Murrayfield matches against New Zealand and South Africa as well as the Aberdeen win against Canada, when he scored his first Scotland try. He then went on to make his Six Nations Championship debut in the Murrayfield match against Wales in February 2009. His elevation to the national XV was deserved reward for sterling performances at full back and centre for Edinburgh in the Magners League and Heineken Cup in the two previous seasons.

Ben is joint top try-scorer for Scotland under-21 as well as having played for his country also at under-18 and under-19 levels and in the IRB sevens circuit. His try against Georgia in the world under-21 championship match in Issoire, France, in June 2006, adding to two against Italy eight days earlier, raised his tally to seven, matching the record set by Nick De Luca in 2005.

In March 2007 Ben made his Scotland A debut as a substitute in the victory against Italy A at McDiarmid Park, Perth. He had his first Scotland A try in the 37-15 victory against their Italian counterparts in Mogliano, near Venice, in February 2008, and he followed up with another in the 67-7 win against Ireland A three weeks later at McDiarmid Park. A year later, also in February, after playing in the Six Nations match against Wales, he led Scotland A against their Irish counterparts at the RDS in Dublin, and later that month he scored a try in the 22-all draw with Italy in the A international at McDiarmid Park, Perth. He added to his Scotland A appearances with two in the IRB Nations Cup success in Bucharest in June 2009, scoring a try against Russia. He scored again for Scotland A in the 38-7 win against Tonga at Netherdale, Galashiels, in November 2009. His performance in that match earned him a recall for his seventh cap eight days later against Argentina at Murrayfield. He was selected once again for Scotland A against Ireland A during Scotland 's Six Nations campaign in February 2010.

Ben, though a contracted apprentice with Edinburgh Gunners, made his Celtic League debut by playing for Glasgow Warriors as a replacement while on loan for the match against Ospreys in January 2006. Working his way up through the age-grade ranks, he played for the Edinburgh under-16 and under-18 district teams, and he has led Scotland at both under-18 and under-19 levels. He captained his country in all nine under-19 internationals in 2003-2004, including the five in the world championship in Durban, South Africa, where he scored a try in the match against Italy. He made his under-21 international debut in the 2005 match against France in Bourgoin, and he went on to play in all five matches in the under-21 world championship in Argentina. He continued as an ever-present since then, scoring a try against the Welsh at Newport in February 2006 and another in the 21-14 win against Italy in Benevento plus the three in the world championship in France.

He has also played for Scotland in the shortened game, making his sevens debut in the IRB’s 2005 Singapore tournament. He played in three of the IRB’s 2005-2006 tournaments and most recently in the London and Edinburgh sevens in May and June 2007: in the latter of those tournaments he scored two vital tries in the 24-17 victory against South Africa, the Scots’ first seven-a-side win over a top-flight nation.

Ben, a Royal High School former pupil who has been studying sports science at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, followed in the footsteps of his brother, Mark, who played in five of Scotland’s under-21 internationals in 2004.