Young Gun: Luke White – Harlequins fly-half
Leaving school last summer, the 19-year-old has joined the Harlequins full-time training with the first team every day.
Being dual registered with Dorking in National League Two South has allowed him to get used to men’s rugby while former All Black Evans has taken him under his wing in training.
“Nick Evans has been brilliant with me since I’ve arrived,” he told The Rugby Paper. “He is my mentor at the club. He goes through my games with me and we’ll discuss things to see where I can improve.
“It’s the same with Ben Botica who’s always on hand to help out. They’re both very handy to improve my skillet and game management.
“Before the season started I was worried about the physicality of the senior game but my tackling stats have been pretty good so far.
“The thing I’ve had to improve on very quickly though was my game management. The speed of the game is quicker than at school and you’ve got to make the right decision a lot faster.
“I thought the A-League was going to be a shock to the system but playing week-in week-out with Dorking allowed me acclimatise to the physicality. There are some big blokes in National League Two.
“Training full-time with Quins also helps especially when we do our 15 on 15 session on Thursdays. I often end up playing against the starting No.10.”
White was part of the Worcester from the age of 13 but he moved on mid-way through last season and went on to captain Bromsgrove to NatWest Cup glory at Twickenham in a man-of-the-match performance.
That put him on the radar of a few Premiership clubs and after a trial period he joined Quins on a one-year deal.
He added: “We had a great year at Bromsgrove. We were lucky in the sense that most of our games were at home and we beat some good teams. We beat Oundle in the semi-finals at Allianz Park and then Dulwich in the final at HQ.
“I’ve been at Quins since August and I’m really enjoying it. I arrived on a trial and ended up playing in the Premiership Sevens.
“My first game was against Wasps at the Ricoh Arena and they had guys like Christian Wade or Elliot Daly in their team. It was a big difference from playing School rugby a few months back.
“Making my Premiership debut is probably a bit far-fetched for me this season but I hope I can help the club do well with Dorking and in the A-League so I can earn a new contract and keep progressing.”
