When Jake White made a beeline directly for the Brumbies’ shed after the fulltime siren in Canberra it wasn’t a mistake – it was closure.
“To go in their change room and see them – now it’s over, we can move on,” White said of his old team.
White shocked all when he walked out on the Brumbies last October to join the Sharks halfway through his four-year contract.
He hadn’t been back to Canberra since breaking the news in his homeland.
However there were no hard feelings after his new South African club lost Super Rugby’s top-of-the-table clash 16-9 on Saturday night – just satisfaction from both sides.
The former Brumbies and World Cup-winning Springboks coach said he made a point of going up to every single player in the change room and shaking his hand.
“The ones that I didn’t have time to see I’ve seen now,” he said.
“It makes me feel a lot better to know that everybody can get it behind us and move on.”
White said he was impressed at the way the Brumbies had continued to grow in his absence.
“Some clubs would implode if coaches moved on,” he said.
“It’s wonderful. It gives you a great sense of satisfaction.
“Tonight I probably couldn’t have lost – I was always going to win something tonight.
“As much as it hurts with the team that I’m with, let’s just take things into perspective … this is a good Brumbies team.”
Brumbies captain Ben Mowen admitted after the match that he and his teammates wanted to show White they had continued to grow.
“There was an undertone feeling there that you wanted to show a guy who’s given a lot of guys an opportunity that you’ve continued to evolve,” Mowen said.