Whatsapp texts inspired White to play for Scotland

Ben White has disclosed how Whatsapp messages from Gregor Townsend inspired him to play for Scotland – despite having previously represented England.

The Toulon scrum-half was born in Stoke-on-trent and captained England Under-20s. In 2019, he came off the bench for England against the Barbarians at Twickenham, replacing Alex Mitchell to link up with Marcus Smith. Then, during the 2021 autumn internationals, while in his first year at London Irish, White received a text from Gavin Vaughan.

Vaughan is Townsend’s lead analyst and a prolific researcher of Scotland-qualified talent. White had been part of the Scottish Exiles programme in his mid-teens, qualifying through his grandfather.

“I had a call with Gregor and he spoke about what his vision was for the team,” White tells the Telegraph Rugby Podcast. “He also spoke about how I was playing, what I was doing well and what he thought I could do better.

“Then, for the next couple of weeks, he’d send me clips from games on Whatsapp. I thought, ‘Wow, this is brilliant. He’s clearly watching every minute of my matches’. It’d be things like, ‘These three phases were good but why did you wait at this ruck?’

“The level of coaching, in terms of developing me as an individual, was brilliant. I was probably taken aback by it.”

Since then, Townsend’s investment has been recompensed heavily. White was brought into the Scotland fold for the 2022 Six Nations and scored five minutes into a “crazy” Test bow against England, after taking the field as a headinjury replacement for Ali Price.

Over the past two years, White has gradually asserted himself as Scotland’s front-line scrum-half and a complementary foil for Finn Russell. While taking nothing for granted, he is thriving on an “inner confidence” that has developed with time in the saddle.

“The players you have around you at Scotland are amazing,” White says. “You feel relaxed enough on the pitch that if you want to try something, you can try something. If it doesn’t work, someone will graft their a--- off to cover for you. That’s a fantastic environment.”