Northern | US

Nic White's Wallaby World Cup dream is alive thanks to Rob Baxter's generosity


GettyImages-1064698090-2
Comments
Comment

Nic White’s dreams of representing Australia at the 2019 World Cup have been given the thumbs up by Rob Baxter, the Exeter coach who admitted he had no hesitation in coming to a contractual agreement that clears the way for the scrum-half to be available for the finals.

ADVERTISEMENT

The Chiefs have agreed that the Australian can leave the Gallagher Premiership club at the end of the 2019/20 season, a situation that has allowed White to organise a deal with a Super Rugby franchise and make himself eligible to be picked by Wallaby boss Michael Cheika.

The 28-year-old, who began his career at the Brumbies before moving to French side Montpellier, joined Exeter in 2017 and has scored 10 tries in 44 appearances for the club ahead of this weekend’s clash with defending league champions Saracens at Sandy Park.

“Nic’s got our full blessing,” said Baxter to BBC Sport. “He’s fully contracted with us now for this season and the season coming, but by signing for an Australian franchise, that allows Australia to pick him now which makes him available for the World Cup.

“Nic’s always wanted to play in a World Cup, it’s been a big ambition of his. As much as we’d like Nic to stay here long term, he’s a very good player for us and done very well, there is a reality that we also think it’s part of what we’re about that if we can help someone reignite their career and do well that we don’t want to stand in their way.”

“You’d like to keep all your top players and keep adding to it, but that isn’t the reality,” said Baxter.

ADVERTISEMENT

“We’ll keep our eye on the market, interesting players will become available, but first and foremost we’ll look at the form of the young nines we’ve got here and see if we start to anticipate a year’s time is the right time for them all to step up and fight for the one, two and three spots just on their own.”

Stream Nations Championship 2026 LIVE

Hemispheres collide in the new Nations Championship. Stream live, replays and highlights free on RugbyPass TV.

Watch on RPTV
Starts 4th July 2026 - USA only.
ADVERTISEMENT
Play Video
LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Long Reads

Comments on RugbyPass

P
Phantom 1 hour ago
Nations Championship: 'The data shows the north has finally caught up with the south'

Fact: the gap between the North and the South has narrowed considerably - that I get. However, determining that only selecting only Home grown players or playing in the home country is is the optimal strategy is a bit of a toss up and highly reliant on the economies of the home union. I do understand that England and to a lesser degree Ireland selects home based only. The top 14 is a massive threat to their domestic product. France would probably not be affected (the money is at home). Fiji, Argentina, Samoa, Italy and you could even argue Scotland have only benefitted from this. Their players either go overseas to learn at higher levels (Fiji, Samoa, Argentina) or players coming into their leagues to strengthen the home product and their National teams (Scotland, Italy, Japan).

South Africa used to limit its selection to the home based players, but the reality of a weak currency vs what players could earn oversees meant that you lost access to your best players at some stage of their careers, with very few exceptions. Kolbe left SA as he was considered too small for International Rugby (yes coaches/selectors view), but ironically in France he forced selectors to notice his endeavors and select him. He is only reaching 50 caps now despite being north of 30 - granted rotation and the odd injury also played a role, but for the most part it is having debuted or becoming a regular so late.



...

18 Go to comments
Close Panel
Close Panel

Edition & Time Zone

{{current.name}}
Set time zone automatically
{{selectedTimezoneTitle}} (auto)
Choose a different time zone
Close Panel

Editions

Close Panel

Change Time Zone

Copied to clipboard

Share Article close