My Life in Rugby: Jason White – former Scotland flanker
Scotland hadn’t won a game that year so it was a huge result, especially as it denied England the Grand Slam.
It was filthy weather and Lawrence Dallaglio scored off a scrum early doors. At the time I thought I had made a big mistake but, looking back, it was a bit of a mix-up between me and Andy Nicol and how we defended the base of the scrum. After that, it all went by in a flash. Duncan Hodge scored all our points in the 19-13 win.
I came across Duncan when I moved from Aberdeen to Edinburgh to attend the renowned rugby school, George Watson’s College, on a scholarship. Things took off for me there, and I was selected by Scotland Schools to tour South Africa.
My professional rugby life started at the now defunct Caledonia Reds. We played in two European Cup campaigns and surprised everyone bar ourselves by winning the Inter-District Championship in 1996/97. Eventually Caledonia merged into Glasgow and I spent five years there before following my old team-mate, Rowan Shepherd, down to Sale, after the 2003 World Cup.
I went to that RWC in a rich vein of try-scoring form…by my standards anyway, with three tries in four Tests. Ball-carrying and tackling were normally the way I liked to make an impression on a game.
The two crunching tackles I made on Jerry Flannery and Paul Sackey in the Six Nations are the ones that I remember most vividly. I hit Flannery man and ball and stopped him dead in his tracks, while I drove Sackey back a good few yards before bringing him to ground in another win against the English – the third of my career. Eddie Butler described it in commentary as “another trademark Jason White tackle”.
I enjoyed my World Cup experience and it was good to get to the quarter-finals in both 2003 and 2007.
There was less pressure on me personally in the first one out in Australia because I was relatively new to the team. Sharing the same hotel as a Hell’s Angels convention in Cronulla was an interesting experience and I think the management took the right decision to move us somewhere else! Four years later, I captained Scotland in France. You dream of playing for your country but to then captain the side, too, was unbelievable.
Back at Sale we were building momentum.
We had a world-class pack and quality backs and, on our day, we were a match for anyone as our Premiership title win in 2006 proved. Philippe Saint-Andre understood the game well while his right-hand man, Kingsley Jones, was great for team morale. They made a good double act who got the best out of the squad.
The chance to try out something new and experience a different lifestyle led to me to France in 2009, where I enjoyed three great seasons with Clermont where the fans are the best that I have ever come across.
Two of my children were born while we were there and I’ll always look back fondly on that time in my life.
A big contingent of family and friends came over to watch me in my farewell game, a win against Brive. I was one of the lucky ones in that I retired on my own terms.
My current employers, Red Sky Management, made the transition relatively smooth and as well as my job with them as an athlete director, I enjoy coaching my local club North Berwick.
*As told to Jon Newcombe
