Ben White has disclosed why he ultimately opted to play for Scotland over England.
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The 25-year-old’s rugby journey began when he debuted for Leicester Tigers at just 17 years old in a testimonial match for Marcos Ayerza against Argentina at Welford Road.
Notably, at 17 years and 151 days, he became Leicester’s youngest player to feature in the Premiership when he debuted against Harlequins in October 2015. His career saw a stint on loan with Doncaster Knights in 2016, where he became their youngest-ever player upon debut against London Welsh in April.
Transitioning to London Irish in 2021, White’s impressive performance, including three tries in 10 Premiership matches, earned him his first call-up to the Scotland squad for the 2022 Guinness Six Nations. He marked his debut with a try early in the game, contributing to Sc
otland’s Calcutta Cup victory in 2022, and replicated this success against the Auld Enemy in 2023. Despite discussions with then England coach Eddie Jones, White was deeply impressed by Scotland coach Gregor Townsend.
“I had a call with Gregor and he spoke about what his vision was for the team,” White, who now plays for Toulon, told The Telegraph.
“He also spoke about how I was playing, what I was doing well and what he thought I could do better.
“Then, for the next couple of weeks, he’d send me clips from games on WhatsApp. I thought, ‘Wow, this is brilliant. He’s clearly watching every minute of my matches’. It’d be things like, ‘These three phases were good but why did you wait at this ruck? What are you seeing?’
“The level of coaching, in terms of developing me as an individual, was brilliant. I was probably taken aback by it. I remember thinking, ‘God… I need to be good every phase here! Every pass, every kick, every movement off the ball.’”
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Brian Moore tells Steve Borthwick to make FOUR changes to his England XV for Scotland clash
Brian Moore has called on head coach Steve Borthwick to make four changes for the Calcutta Cup clash with Scotland at Murrayfield this Saturday.
Strong scrum:
He wrote: “I would consider picking England’s strongest scrummaging front row of Joe Marler, Jamie George and Dan Cole.
“It is not that Will Stuart has underperformed at tighthead, but if England have a chance of getting on top in this important set-piece, better that they do it early and, as they now always say, paint the right picture for Andrew Brace, the referee.”
Read his full column for The Telegraph here.
Brian Moore’s England team to play Scotland
15. Freddie Steward
14. Tommy Freemand
13. Henry Slade
12. Manu Tuilagi for Fraser Dingwall
11. Elliot Daly