Nic White says he sees a lot of similarities between the Western Force and the ACT Brumbies ahead of his return to his former club for the first time for Saturday’s Round 3 clash.
White, 33, made 112 Super Rugby appearances with the Brumbies over two stints from 2011 to 2015 and 2020 to 2023, before switching to the Force in the off-season.
Speaking on the Western Force’s Full Force Podcast, the Wallabies scrum-half, who helped the Brumbies win the 2020 Super Rugby AU crown and reach the 2021 decider, said he will always feel fondly of his former club and could see the Force heading in a similar direction.
“It’s a place that’ll always hold a little part in my heart,” White told the Full Force Podcast. “I owe them a lot. Obviously, they looked after me early on. I learned a lot of things from that place, from some really good people.
“It’s funny I was actually talking to Steve Larkham only last week about this. I called him up, talking about Perth. I said there’s a lot of similarities in what’s happening here and in Canberra.
“What I mean by that is in Canberra, there’s a lot of guys who moved down there who aren’t from there. Canberra adopts them. The community adopts them. And you look after each other and you create a tight brotherhood. I’ve felt that here. I’ve been so welcomed.”
White was speaking on episode 2 of the Full Force Podcast, which features episodes with Michaela Leonard, Chase Tiatia and Trilleen Pomare with more to come this season.
You can listen to all episodes on the podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and Castbox.
White also spoke about his initial impressions of Perth, having moved west with his wife Melissa and three boys in December, revealing he’s felt very welcomed.
“The amount of people who’ve stopped to welcome me,” he said. “I was in IGA and a guy stops and says, ‘welcome to Perth, I’m looking forward to the year ahead’ I was like, ‘mate, thank you’.
“The day I got off the plane actually, I went down to Scarborough, was looking a bit lost. I hadn’t met any of the boys yet.
“A guy just goes, ‘Nic White?’ I turned around, he looked pretty beefy, must have been a footy player and I assumed he was one of the boys. Just got chatting, ending up going and having a coffee with this bloke.
“I didn’t realise until halfway in he wasn’t one of the boys, he was just a fan. He was just welcoming me. We spent half an hour together, he showed me around Scarborough, he showed me where to get a haircut, we got a coffee, I love that.
“It’s been so welcoming. It goes back to that there’s a community here and guys who are so welcoming. With the Force there’s so many guys coming across and we’ve got this unique brotherhood as players, because a lot of us aren’t from here.
“That’s something I got in Canberra and it’s something I’m getting here. It’s a good culture. There’s something about that closeness that you have in places that aren’t big cities like Christchurch, Canberra and Perth.”
