Ben White is a man in a hurry – but it’s all still falling into place for the new Scotland cap.
The 23-year-old’s telephone call with Gregor Townsend to finalise whether he would join up with Scotland didn’t take terribly long. And it took no time at all for him to mark his first appearance with a try in the victory against England.
As is now the norm under Stuart Hogg’s captaincy, as the first cap he was given the honour of lifting the Calcutta Cup. Clearly, things could hardly be going better for the Stoke-born scrum-half.
‘An incredible experience’
“It was an incredible experience,” he said. “I don’t think words can do it justice. It was absolutely amazing.”
Hauled off the bench early for an HIA to Ali Price, White helped start and then supported Dracy Graham to finish Scotland’s first try. Then Price returned, and he had to sit down again.
“I walked off and said to one of the lads of the bench, ‘that was the best 10 minutes of my life’!” recalled Ben. “If anything getting on like that was good. It took away the nerves and angst of maybe waiting until the last 20 minutes.
“Just to be thrown in at the deep end was a good thing. You just go on and do your job.”
Ben’s eligibility comes from his Edinburgh-born grandfather Jim, and his only regret is that Jim didn’t live to see him play at Murrayfield.
“My grandad went south for work, but my old man made sure that we came up every so often, to Edinburgh and to Aviemore,” he added.
“When I was younger, under 14s and 15s, I went to Scottish Exiles with Rob Brierley down at Mount St Mary’s,” he said. “I’ve always known I’ve had that Scottish connection and wanted to try and go down that route.
“Gregor had been in touch so I knew it was an option and that they were watching me. That was incredibly exciting and an honour just to get a call from Gregor to even potentially be involved.
‘I don’t need any more than two seconds’
“Then I got that call with Gregor asking if I wanted to join the squad. He said I could have a day or two to think about it. But I said ‘thanks, but I don’t need any more than two seconds’.
“It is an absolute honour to play for Scotland so I didn’t have to think about it at all. To play for Scotland is a dream come true and it has been an incredible experience for me.
“My mum, dad, my brother, my girlfriend (international tennis player Jodie Burrage) and her family were there. I wish my grandpa was still alive to see it. He would have been ecstatic.”
Hard as it is, White is keeping his feet firmly on the ground as Scotland prepare for Wales.
“We need to keep delivering as a team,” he said. “Our focus now is to back it up with another win at the weekend.”
“As a playing group it’s very tight-knit. Everyone has been incredibly friendly and helpful to me.
“Coming into this environment you can see how close the squad is, how good the bond is between the players.
“That shows on the pitch how close a unit we are as a team.”