Six Nations: White determined to reap rewards of coach's faith in him

Published on Thursday 5 February 2009 23:14

FOR almost a decade now, the sight of Jason White's name on the Scotland team sheet has been a source of reassurance. Since making his debut in the 2000 Calcutta Cup victory, the Sale Sharks forward has become renowned as the enforcer of the Scots pack, the man whose explosive tackling can knock the wind out of the opposition both physically and metaphorically.

This time, however, things are a bit different. As Scotland prepare to face Wales on Sunday, the inclusion of White has to be regarded as a calculated risk.

He has made only one appearance, and that as a substitute, since breaking a finger at the end of last year, so he cannot be as match fit as he would like.

And, perhaps more pertinently, he has been named at second row, in place of the injured Nathan Hines, whereas in recent years he has primarily played in the back row. Given that Wales have arguably the best set of backs in the Six Nations, Scotland probably do not want to play too loose a game.

If they are to succeed in keeping it tight, however, they will need White to quickly shake off whatever rust remains from his recent lay-off.

Plan A may be for the former captain to give his all for 45 minutes or so. Simon Taylor, who starts at No8, has been playing at lock for Stade Franais this season, and so could move up to replace White, with Kelly Brown then coming off the bench.

Similarly, if Jim Hamilton has to come off, Taylor will step forward from the back row to partner White. "It will be Simon moving up," White confirmed. "He's been playing regularly there for his club team.

"I would say both Simon and myself are similar to the second rows in terms of leg strength. I'd back us to get in there and give it a good old push."

But whatever happens, the 30-year-old is aware that he is not going into the match in ideal shape.

"It's going to be a challenge," White said. "I'd be lying if I said it was going to be easy.

"It's never easy to play Six Nations rugby at the required level. You need to be mentally switched on to have your head working as absolutely quick as it can do.

"Fifty minutes against Worcester is not the ideal scenario going into the game, but I've been in these situations before, and I'm fortunate enough to have played a lot of rugby for Scotland. I just need to draw on those experiences and have the hunger, desire, passion, all those words, and go out there and do the best I can."

To the untrained eye, there may be little difference between the work of a lock and a blindside, but, having substantial experience of both positions, White knows the distinctions between the two roles all too well.

"The hardest thing about second row is pushing in the scrum," he explained. "Without doubt that's the hardest thing.

"And the hardest scenario is if you have five or six scrum resets on your own line, and then getting up and running throughout a three-minute period of play. Whereas on the flank you work hard on the side of the scrum, but your legs don't fill up with lactic as they do when you're in the second row. It's just a mindset of getting in there and pushing as hard as you can.

"In terms of conditioning, primarily you want to be heavier. That's the down side – I'm not quite as heavy as Nathan (Hines] is. In terms of scrummaging, I'm naturally strong, so I'm going to get in there and work as hard as I can.

"I played a lot of my rugby at Glasgow at second row early on, when Richie (Dixon] was the coach. But I'm not quite sure of the overall number.

"I haven't played so much there at Sale, maybe ten, 15 games. I played the last 20 minutes there last weekend, and I've started two games at second row for Sale this season."

Besides that relevant experience, White, who will be winning his 70th cap on Sunday, clearly knows Test rugby inside out. "I've been lucky to encounter most things, but I still have the fear of not playing well enough for Scotland and not being as good as I can be," he continued.

"Am I worried about playing Wales? No, I've got a strong belief in my ability, and in that of the other seven forwards in the pack and then the rest of the players in the team.

"I feel confident in the ability of the players and in the strength in depth that we have. The fact a lot of the players come from Edinburgh is a bonus, in terms of the familiarity that brings with the key combinations in the team.

"It's Mike (Blair] to Phil (Godman], then Phil on to Ben Cairns – it's a definite advantage they're so familiar with each other."

Having just escaped the Wooden Spoon last year, Scotland are under some pressure to get this year's championship off to a winning start – a feat they have not achieved since a Sean Lamont try double helped earn a surprise Murrayfield win over France in 2006 – but White thinks that Wales, as 2008 Grand Slam winners, will feel a greater burden of expectation.

"They've made a lot of the fact they were champions last year, and their coach has made a big call by making them favourites. He's placed a bit of pressure on them, which seems to be a theme running through their camp just now.

"For us it's a great time. We need to push on from what were definitely encouraging signs in the autumn: we need to turn encouraging into a victory."

And that, after all, is something that White has been doing since Day One of his international career, when Scotland, the rank outsiders who had lost their first four matches in the championship, defeated England nine years ago.