Getting told off at the shop: Why Toulon has been the making of Scotland scrum-half Ben White

He is now able to converse freely in team meetings and it’s not only his language skills that have improved. White says the pressure of playing for one of the Top 14’s leading clubs has equipped him to handle the expectations of the Toulon public and helped strengthen his character on the Test stage.

He returns to international duty this weekend when Scotland open their Six Nations campaign against Italy in Rome and feels ready for the challenge.

He recently signed a new contract with Toulon which ties him to the club until 2028 amid interest from a number of other teams, with Edinburgh of the sides linked with the former Leicester and London Irish No 9.

“I had options to leave and to go to some other clubs,” said White. “Toulon's a massive club with huge ambitions. The level of expectation every time I play for Toulon, sometimes it feels even more than when I play for Scotland.

Strengthening Scotland’s French connection

“You walk down the shops and somebody's telling you off for a bad pass you’ve thrown or why we lost, and you're like ‘oh, my God’ but I do enjoy it there. I think it's really helped me as a person to grow as an individual and have these life experiences. And, again, I think it's helped me when I play for Scotland to be a more well-rounded player, to feel more comfortable in those professional areas.

“And really, I think it's helped me grow as a leader as well and to be a communicator. Because a lot of the stuff in France is around the nine, and I'll talk more in meetings and talk more on the pitch and call line-outs and things. So I think that's really helped me, and that's something that made me want to stay there.”

Scotland’s French connection will be strengthened next season following the decisions by both Huw Jones and Adam Hastings to leave Glasgow Warriors and move to the Top 14 in the summer. Jones will link up with White at Toulon while Hastings will join fellow Scots Ali Price, Stuart Hogg and Alex Masibaka at Montpellier. With Blair Kinghorn (Toulouse), Jonny Gray (Bordeaux), Jamie Ritchie (Perpignan) and Dave Cherry (Vannes) also playing in France, there is plenty of Scottish interest.

“It's obviously going to be really nice to have Huw joining me in Toulon,” said White. “There are so many good players and it is a great competition. The more players we have from Scotland playing in the league and playing at the highest level across Europe, it's fantastic for us and it drives the quality of the squad. I think it's great.”

White has embraced life in Toulon and worked hard to immerse himself in the language and culture. His team are going well in Europe and are on course to meet Glasgow Warriors in the Champions Cup quarter-finals if both teams can win their round of 16 ties.

A proper rugby town

“It's a proper rugby town,” said White. “It's a proper, hardcore rugby place. Everyone loves rugby. Everyone's excited about rugby. Everyone goes to the stadium. Everyone knows who you are. Everywhere you go, you know, they do it. It's not like a Saturday thing.

“And I think that's a cool place to be as a rugby player. That's what you want, to play every week at the Stade Mayol. You're walking down, and there's hundreds of people on the streets. It's just a very cool place to play rugby.

“I’ll do all the meetings in French. Rugby stuff is easy enough. Sometimes when you're sat in the changing room, they're all laughing and joking and chatting in slang and stuff. If I've not gone into the conversation knowing what they're on about, I sit there and I'm like, I've got five minutes to get my head around it. But, no, I'm more comfortable now. I'm sure there's some press conferences I've done and things in French. I don't know if they're any good or not, but I've tried. That’s been an awesome life experience to learn French and to dive into a different way of living and culture.”

“The Top 14 is a tough league and it has different challenges to playing in other leagues,” White adds. “I think one of the biggest things that I've found playing in the Top 14 is that every game is a massive occasion. You're playing in front of sell-out crowds every week. When you play away from home, there's so much pressure on the home team to win.

“When we're playing at home, you have that level of pressure that almost feels the same as a Test match, which is something that took me a bit of time to get used to. I feel that when I come back into a Scotland environment, I've been playing every week in high-pressure games where we must win, we must win is the message and we must do this. That transfers and makes you feel more comfortable in those environments which are high-pressure, which they are when you're playing international rugby.

“I feel it's prepared me really well. From a more technical rugby perspective, I think that as a scrum-half playing in France, it can be a little bit messier, it can be a little bit more free-flowing, a little bit more open. You're obviously around a lot of big bodies and the rucks are scrappier.

“Then when I come to international rugby and I come to play with Scotland, where we have such emphasis on our shape and our structure, I have to say our forwards here are amazing. The quality of our ruck and things, when we're playing well and we're playing fast, it's just so clean and it feels so good.

“I think some of that stuff that I work on at club about trying to be fast and move the ball away from the ruck quickly when it's messy. When I come here, I can transfer those skills and it almost helps me in those moments. I think it's been a great move for me personally.”

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