Scrum-half Ben White made the most of a chance to play at Welford Road with two tries in Friday’s pre-season win over Benetton Treviso.
The 19-year-old has played in both warm-up fixtures, starting against Ospreys in Bridgend and then coming off the bench in the home game against Treviso when he claimed two of the seven tries.
“It’s always nice to play at Welford Road,” said academy graduate White. “There’s nowhere better in rugby. Our fans are excellent and always good to us. I really enjoyed being back.”
White capitalised on some pressure near the Treviso line to dart over for his first try just eight minutes after joining the action from the bench, and then latched on to a break by flanker Will Evans to claim his second10 minutes later as Tigers enjoyed a 47-12 victory.
“I did manage to sneak over for a couple, which was nice,” he said. “But the boys played really well around me and I can’t take credit for all of it – especially that nice little break from Will for the second.
“It makes the job of a nine a lot easier when you have that front-foot ball and I can get the ball out early to just let them go. It’s definitely a major difference in having those excellent players around us.”
Working alongside Ben Youngs, Sam Harrison, Jono Kitto and his fellow academy graduate Harry Simmons, White says the squad have enjoyed a strong pre-season in the countdown to the opening game of the Aviva Premiership campaign against Bath at Welford Road on September 3.
“It has been pretty good and going in to these games we were feeling pretty confident,” he said.
“It’s especially good to have had these two victories going in to the final friendly and Bath in two weeks.
“Matt O’Connor wanted us to keep working hard at the things we were talking about all week and putting those in to practice. He wanted us to keep playing with the ball and continue to test ourselves.”
Tigers return to Welford Road this Friday when the Ospreys are the visitors. Kick-off is at 7.45pm and tickets are available now, from £12 adults and £5 juniors. Book in person at Welford Road, phone 0116 319 8888 (option 2)(open 9.00am-5.00pm Monday-Saturday and up to kick-off on Friday). Or book online any time.
