White glowing after Exeter secure double
By Neale Harvey
4/11/20
Former Exeter scrum-half Nic White has spoken of the sheer joy and pride he felt at watching his old side achieve their destiny of winning a league and European Cup double.
White, 30, is currently in the midst of Australia’s Bledisloe and Rugby Championship campaigns but has kept more than a close eye on affairs back in England, having played his part in putting the Chiefs in contention for both major trophies before heading home to Australia in June.
A virtual ever-present in Exeter’s Premiership and Heineken Champions Cup campaigns before lockdown in March, the experienced schemer admits he was gutted not to be part of the celebrations in person but was able to bask in reflected gory with his old teammates.
“It’s awesome,” an emotional White told The Rugby Paper. “I watched the Champions Cup final and caught up with the Premiership final as soon as I could, so I’m just incredibly happy for the guys and also very proud because I certainly do feel I’m still part of the club.
“I said to Rob Baxter before I left that if I’d stayed and missed out on playing for the Wallabies again, I’d always look back and think about what might have been, but equally I’ll always look back at whatever success Exeter have with pride because I absolutely loved the place.
“Exeter wasn’t just a special part of my rugby career, it was a special part of my life as well. Me and my wife went over there and had two little boys so it was everything we could have dreamed of and more from our time there. When I left, I knew something special was coming for the club and I’m just so delighted that they’ve finished it off and brought that to fruition.
“It’s been a long time coming after the last couple of years of missing out in finals and after last year’s Premiership final loss to Saracens, it was time to draw a line and go and do the double. It’s been pretty amazing to see the boys have done it and I can only imagine what the celebrations would have been like all week – I’ll admit I’ve been very envious in that respect!
“The best part is lifting the trophies and the celebrations after it, so they’ll have had an absolute cracker and I’ve certainly been in touch with a few people since.”
White admits losing the last two Premiership finals to salary cap miscreants Saracens still rankles and he believes those titles should be null and voided. However, he insists a new dynasty is ready to dawn, adding: “What happened with Saracens certainly helped as a motivation and with the last couple of seasons of hurt, people certainly used that to do what we did.
“Personally, you talk about dynasties and people talk about Saracens over the last few years, but you’ve got to start talking about Exeter now. What’s happened with Saracens and yet somehow they get to keep those Premiership trophies, that’s quite beyond me.
“But now we’re starting to talk about one hell of a dynasty Rob’s creating at Exeter and they’re European champions as well. I’ll always be a bit sore that Saracens got to keep those trophies, though, because I think there should be an asterisk and nothing there.”
With Premiership and Champions Cup winners’ medals sure to be winging his way at some stage, White has now achieved a unique ‘treble’ after clinching the Super Rugby AU title with the Brumbies.
He said: “I’ve been a little bit lucky being part of a few trophy wins this year and, hopefully, there might be something else to come with the Wallabies. I’m not sure what will happen with medals from Exeter, if they’ll come or not, but I certainly do feel part of it.
“I’ve spoken to a lot of the boys over the last couple of weeks and spoken to Rob and Ali Hepher, and part of the reason I feel so happy and proud for them is that they’ve still made me feel part of the club – and I always will do, I think, because I’ve made friends for life.
“Whatever successes they enjoy going forward now, I think all the guys who’ve helped lay the foundations over the last ten years or more will feel the same.
“I can’t speak highly enough of the place and I’d have loved to have been there over the last few weeks to help finish the job, but I told them before I left they’d go ahead and do it – I’d just have loved to have been able to lift the trophies and get stuck into the beers!”
Would White have been playing for Australia now had he not joined the Chiefs from Montpellier in 2017 and helped steer them to successive Premiership finals?
“No, I don’t think I would have been to be perfectly honest,” he says. “I was very grateful to get the call from Rob in the first place to join Exeter and I certainly became a better player and person, which enabled me to put myself in contention for last year’s World Cup.
“There’s no doubt that the opportunity to be part of Australia’s World Cup campaign and then follow it up now, I don’t think they’d have come calling if I wasn’t at Exeter.”
While White is now part of Exeter’s history, Jack Maunder has shone in the No.9 shirt during the Chiefs’ glory march. White sees a huge future for him as well as Stu Townsend, whose elbow injury over the summer cruelly denied him the chance of playing a part.
“I think the two of them have big futures,” he said. “I really feel for Stu because he hurt his elbow just as they were coming out of Covid and wasn’t able to play, and between the two of them they’ve been quite unlucky with injuries over the last couple of years.
“Jack got a crack with England in 2017 but then got injured just after I arrived and couldn’t catch a run of games, and the same thing happened to Stu. But I’ve said all along that the pair of them are outstanding half-backs who just need time in the saddle.
“That’s the only thing stopping them competing for England places, but you’re seeing with Jack now that he’s getting that game time and is only going to get better.
“You’ve got two guys who between them have won Premiership and European Cups and are getting all the experience they need, plus they’re still young and are getting outstanding coaching from Ricky Pellow and Ali Hepher, so they will both get even better.
“They’ve got a good chance of winning more trophies and England will be in a great position because these guys will open up over the next couple of years.”
As White aims to cap an incredible 2020 with Rugby Championship success, he added: “It’s been a bizarre year and certainly not one I’ll forget for all kinds of reasons.
“A huge part of that will be what’s happened at Exeter and although I might not have been there, I’m still as proud as punch. When I spoke to the guys after the European Cup win, they were still in the changing room and I could feel the raw emotion coming through.
“I was certainly there in mind and even though I’m in the Australian bubble now and enjoying the challenge of playing the All Blacks four times on the spin, I’ll never forget my old team-mates at the Chiefs because we’ve shared brilliant times together.”