If last autumn\u2019s capitulation at home to Argentina was a recent nadir, then using it as the starting point for a forensic evaluation of the squad\u2019s strengths and weaknesses has proved to be a very worthwhile exercise indeed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re disappointed [with the defeat] because we believe in the group and how far we\u2019ve come in the last 12 months,\u201d said Ben White<\/strong>, scorer of Scotland\u2019s fourth try that secured the bonus point. \u201cThere were long periods in that game where we were on top and showed the quality that we\u2019ve got against the world\u2019s best opposition. We\u2019ve got to keep working, keep believing in our group and how we want to play and the ability we have. And keep doubling down on that.<\/p>\n \u201cGregor, Sione and others have spoken about what we\u2019ve taken from those games [Argentina last autumn and Italy in the Six Nations]. And it definitely brought the group closer together. We\u2019ve talked about our DNA, how we want to play and the belief that we have in each other. And we\u2019re going to stick to that. We\u2019re going to stick to how we want to play and the ability we have, no matter who we play against. And I think we showed that [on Saturday].\u201d<\/p>\n Scotland\u2019s inaugural Nations Championship campaign now switches to Murrayfield when Fiji are, in theory, the hosts for the third and final game of the summer series. Given the demands of playing back-to-back Tests in Argentina and South Africa, it would be only natural if Townsend rang the changes for this one but White isn\u2019t looking for a day off.<\/p>\n \u201cI love playing for Scotland and you never turn down the chance to play for your country,\u201d said the scrum-half. \u201cIt\u2019s an absolute honour and any chance I get to do that, I\u2019m chomping at the bit. You want to get back out there, put smiles on faces and be proud to play for your fans. So I\u2019m really excited. And if I get the opportunity to pull on the shirt again I\u2019ll be raring to go. Listen, we love playing at Murrayfield in front of our home crowd. And we want to make sure that that whole stadium\u2019s rocking and excited to watch Scottish rugby played at the highest level.\u201d<\/p>\n A recent newspaper article described White as the most competitive man in rugby and the Toulon No. 9 doesn\u2019t see it as a negative if so.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know who wrote that and I can\u2019t speak for others but I know that I love playing for Scotland. I love playing rugby. \u00a0I\u2019m very proud and privileged to be in this position. And I\u2019ll do anything to try and help the team win. Ultimately you play a team sport and you give everything to your teammates and the country and you just want to do well. And if that means that I have to run around like a madman and win every drop ball and chase every ruck, then I\u2019ll do that because that\u2019s ultimately what I need to do to win.<\/p>\n \u201cBut I\u2019ll take it as a compliment! I don\u2019t see that as a negative. It\u2019s my job to be competitive. It\u2019s my job and that\u2019s what I love doing. I love competing. It\u2019s the biggest privilege you\u2019ve got. You work so hard to get here. You play in front of massive crowds and all the fans back home so, yeah, why wouldn\u2019t you want to be the most competitive person on the pitch you can be?\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If last autumn\u2019s capitulation at home to Argentina was a recent nadir, then using it as the starting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":764971,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5009],"tags":[1688,748,85185,4884,712,16,15],"class_list":["post-1085478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scotland","tag-ben-white","tag-britain","tag-divi","tag-great-britain","tag-scotland","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116909699657063456","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1085478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1085478"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1085478\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/764971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1085478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1085478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1085478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}