As the dust settles (or should I say wind) over a nail-biting finish to the first Bledisloe instalment, a talking point that has not yet received enough attention is Nic White’s astounding performance in the number nine jersey.
After returning to Australia early due to the coronavirus and only playing a handful of Super Rugby AU matches for the Brumbies, White was not the competition’s best halfback. In fact, his lack of playing time alongside Noah Lolesio meant he was benched for Joe Powell who produced a stellar performance in the final.
With Tate McDermott, Powell and Jake Gordon vying for White’s spot in the side, Dave Rennie can be satisfied that his decision to start the 30-year-old was the right one, as he produced a Wallaby-worthy performance.
After a year characterised by a shamelessly one-dimension, running-heavy attack, Wallabies fans came into Bledisloe 1 hoping for a more varies gameplan with ball in hand.
Enter Nic White.
The halfback imposed himself on the game right from the outset, making a concerted effort to exploit any lapses around the ruck. While it is easy to regard his style of play as ball hogging, White’s sniping and constant questioning of the All Black defence was instrumental in stretching it.
(Photo by Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)
In the fifth minute, he took a little shimmy out from the base of ruck towards the blindside which enticed Sam Whitelock to shoot out of the line. White drew the All Blacks second-rower then passed out the back to James O’Connor, which culminated in a Filipo Daugunu line-break and a gain of more than 20 metres.
Another example of White testing the New Zealand defence came after a 21st-minute snipe where he took advantage of Ofa Tuungafasi’s defensive lapse when the big prop was late in making it back to the line. White drew two defenders and got an offload to Matt Philip who was tackled painstakingly close to the line. These types of plays typified the scrumhalf’s outstanding performance in Bledisloe 1.
In addition to his attacking play, the Wallabies number nine expertly utilised the box kick in the windy conditions to test the New Zealanders. His first was blown straight back to him, but his attempts that followed were far better. In the 15th minute, White put up another kick from behind the ruck which led to a positioning error by George Bridge, who dropped the ball and offered Australia an attacking scrum on halfway.
White’s defining moment of brilliance came in the 62nd minute, when the Wallabies were five points down. A loose ball popped out of the ruck close to the New Zealand line and in one motion, he dived over the ball and flicked it to his right, where Daugunu was waiting to leap over the try-line in his first-ever Test.
Just like that, thanks to his fast thinking, Australia were level.
White’s strong performance guarantees his selection for Game 2. However, if you recall his two previous Bledisloe outings, he was a catalyst in the Wallabies’ win against the All Blacks in Perth but failed to replicate it in the next match. He will have to be more consistent if he wants to remain Rennie’s automatic starter at halfback.
They say those who ignore mistakes of the past are doomed to repeat them. You can guarantee Nic White will be looking to avoid doing just that this weekend at Eden Park.
Gun Dog
Roar Rookie
Halfbacks are lippy..part of the the Job Description...agree though..need a clever lippy 9..piss the ref of and calls will go against you...
Davos
Guest
One of the many reasons the CLown failed and was finally axed. He sacked White in 2015 after he scored a solo winning try against the ABS and went with his buddy Phipps for 5 years. He realized too late he punted the wrong Nick .So sad clown.. so sad..
Jack
Guest
The first error was Hooper’s. Taking the 3 points with 5 to go which only put us up by 6. Should have kept possession up the other end. We had trouble exiting our 25 for the whole season. Hooper who showed his inexperience as a skipper and that he’s not a poker player who would have calculated the odds.
New Deal
Roar Rookie
Less than 2 minutes to go, hands possession back to the ABs in a perfect attacking position. And they scored. There was no reason to kick it, let alone kick it extremely poorly and inaccurately. That mistake definitely lost us the test match. But he played brilliantly last Sunday.
Waxhead
Roar Rookie
@New Deal I error does not make a total game performance. And how many WBs have made worse errors than that on multiple occasions in important Tests since that day. Is it 20 or 50 players making 100 or 200 errors. How many bad errors did Genia, Phipps, Beale make per game in most of the Tests they played. And they were not only forgiven they were rewarded for it by continual undeserved selection. So N. White made 1 bad error in one Test 7 yrs ago. And he did not even have a bad game that day - just made 1 error. And you say it's hard to forgive and forget. How about being fair and reasonable? How about a New Deal for Nic White ??
Derek Murray
Roar Rookie
I'm not so sure. I think he just got whistle-shy at the death both ways - a not entirely unreasonable approach
Derek Murray
Roar Rookie
Form this year would at least challenge that, if not exactly refute it. Gordon was dynamite in the few games he played in SR AU
Derek Murray
Roar Rookie
I recall screaming the same thing to Rogers at the end of the 2003 WC. The last six scores in the game were kicks and they were engineered off field position. With minutes left we shouldn't have handed over possession inside our half. Held the ball until we could clear to their end.
Gun Dog
Roar Rookie
He had a great game..plenty of mongrel. Got right in the AB'S faces..led from the front..hope he can keep it up in test nos 2.!!!
Phantom
Roar Rookie
Not like he was on Sunday with Australian off side rush defence.
Bingo
Roar Rookie
Backed himself. When Genia ran, he was brilliant.
Gepetto
Roar Rookie
The rest of the team did a great job in cleaning out and recovering the ball when White made his incisive runs around the ruck. I was worried that he would become isolated. He did a good job getting the side over the advantage line.
mzilikazi
Roar Pro
"Smith made his debut for Manawatu". Just read last week that Smith went to the same school in Fielding as the Whitelocks. All N. Island born lads.
Lara
Guest
How to pick the best HB ? The coaches decide. DR ....the doc , picked White. Cheika...the ......, picked Genia. To be fair Genia is out of the equation , so by limitations it is easier for DR. However, based on past performance n a report card of 50%, Cheika would more than likely still pick the wrong answer.
The Slow Eater
Roar Rookie
I actually think White tripped over in the Smith try as he was trying to grab him. Unfortunate not to have been able to pull him down
freddieeffer
Roar Rookie
Yes, I read somewhere that Smith made his debut for Manawatu in 2008 while Rennie was coach there 2006-2011.
Richie
Roar Rookie
Don’t get me wrong, I can’t wait to see what McDermott can do at test level.
Jarrod Murray
Roar Rookie
Lippyness isn’t such an issue for me. As a half, you need to be lippy, whether it’s organising your defence and attack or making sure the ref is watching a certain area of the game. The key reason why it’s not an issue is that the ref warned him and he obeyed. He still attempted to try and control the referee’s vision to an extent (some glasses for the touchy would be nice), found the ref’s limitations and didn’t go any further. Hopefully, he can put in another solid performance at Eden Park.
Red Rob
Roar Rookie
Me too.
Bobby
Roar Rookie
Agree but personally I think Tate is the more dynamic of the 2.