The chance to pull on a Wallabies jersey again is "why I came home", which is why Nic White is happy to fill a gap on the wing at ACT Brumbies training.
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It's why the scrumhalf is keen to put in extras on the bike after a session having rejoined the ACT Brumbies at training this week, months before his two-year contract is set to kick in.
The 28-year-old has no guarantee of playing a match in the Brumbies' Super Rugby AU title tilt after returning home from England and coming out of quarantine.
But he is determined to give himself every chance of being fit for the Wallabies' end of season internationals, despite the uncertainty caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
"The gym is going to hurt, maybe for a week or two. Maybe the contact, not that I do a whole lot, might take a little while," White said.
MORE RUGBY UNION
So when the Brumbies face the Western Force at Leichhardt Oval on Saturday, he will be watching from afar as he did during their thrilling win last week.
"I'll tell you what, watching the game, my heart was pumping. I don't know how everyone does it, I'd rather play than watch," White said, but when that day comes is anyone's guess.
"Super Rugby would have been finished by the time I got back [originally], so there is no expectation from my end to play. If there is the opportunity to do that at some point, I would love to.
"For now I'm just happy to run around with the boys. As it was, everything has changed now, but I was coming back at the end of Super Rugby after the season finished to come back into the international season.
"We haven't had those conversations yet, not sure much has changed, so I'll just be training. If the opportunity comes, I'd love to, but at the same time they have got a full squad and it would be quite hard on some guys.
"There is talent all over Australia and there are some great halves here. There is certainly plenty of competition, I look forward to throwing my hat in the ring as well.
"I'm getting to know [Issak Fines and Ryan Lonergan], and I obviously know Joe [Powell] already. I'm looking forward to being a part of our team of scrumhalves, at the end of the day we're a little unit. The ultimate goal is to win this Super Rugby AU."
White spent five seasons in the nation's capital before moving to Europe in 2015, where he played for Montpellier in France and Exeter in the UK.
It was there he locked horns with incoming Wallabies coach Dave Rennie, who had the reins at Glasgow during their two meetings. For the record, Exeter won the first clash and drew the second.
Now the former Queanbeyan Whites scrumhalf returns to the capital having signed a two-year deal from 2021, prior to last year's World Cup.
But the 26-cap international returns to Australia in an uncertain time for professional rugby. A new competition is set to replace Super Rugby in 2021, with New Zealand supremos outlining their desire for an eight to 10-team league featuring two to four Australian teams.
Now their Australian counterparts have floated the possibility of retaining all five of its franchises in a new league featuring the likes of the Japan Sunwolves and Fijian Drua.
But White is happy to leave those discussions in the hands of "the big wigs" - the father of two just wants to play rugby and fulfil a burning desire to represent the Wallabies again.
"We've got this Super Rugby AU competition and if I get a chance to play, how good, in terms of all those discussions, gee whiz," White said.
"It's the world everyone is living in now, everything has been uncertain. When I came home everyone was training out of garages, so to be able to get on the field and be able to pass the ball around, it's great.
"We're very lucky. I'm taking it day by day."
SUPER RUGBY AU ROUND FOUR
Saturday: Western Force v ACT Brumbies at Leichhardt Oval, 7.15pm.