Nic White’s Test rugby retirement looks set to last only a matter of days with the scrumhalf revealing it would be up for discussion next week, and that if Joe Schmidt wants him to stay on for the Rugby Championship, he won’t say no.

Schmidt later suggested he would be asking the feisty No.9 to stick around for “one more tour” and joking he would be rugby’s equivalent of Aussie singer Johnny Farnham, who had multiple farewell concert tours in his career.

The Roar revealed on Friday that Jake Gordon had suffered a hamstring injury that is set to sideline him for the start of the series – two Tests in South Africa later this month.

That news broke after White’s appearance in Saturday’s Sydney Test was celebrated as his farewell in a Rugby Australia statement earlier Thursday. The two events have left the Wallabies in an awkward spot.

“Whitey will rival me, maybe in terms of being kind of like Johnny Farnham,” said Schmidt, who had said he was retiring from international coaching, before taking on the Wallabies gig.

“There’s one more tour and Jake did pick up a little bit of a hamstring right at the end of training on Thursday and so we’re just tracking and seeing how that goes but we’re not going to take risks with people.”

After White impressed in the 22-12 win at Accor Stadium, and pundits questioned why he was giving away Tests now and the professional game after Super Rugby AU in September, he was probed on the stories of Gordon’s setback.

Nic White of the Wallabies applauds the fans after being substituted off during the third test of the series between Australia Wallabies and British & Irish Lions at Accor Stadium on August 02, 2025 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

Michael Hooper, interviewing White post-game on Stan Sport asked: “Around the nine jersey, we’ve heard some things throughout the week. I don’t want to put you on the spot now, there’s probably a beer to drink, some families to hug, but when does that discussion start?”

White responded: “That’ll be a discussion we have next week. And yeah, I said [I’d retire] at the end of the year, and I’ll stay ready.

“And if called upon, you know me, I won’t say no. So yeah, if called upon before … but the plan is still to hang them up at the end of the year.

“But if something happens between now and the end of that year, you know, I’m not thinking too far ahead, but there may be a discussion that needs to be had.”

So is Whitey set to outdo Lleyton Hewitt, who played five weeks after announcing his retirement, to feature against the Springboks? It sounds very much like it.

Hooper and Wallabies legend Tim Horan believe he still has the quality, even at 35.

“When you see how well he’s played tonight, you think, why are you retiring?” said Horan. “You’ve probably got another year or 18 months to go. I think mentally he’s probably fought really hard the last couple of months about, ‘do I keep playing, what do I do, do I maybe play a bit of club footy or do I just stop’? And it’s great to have a finish line right in front of you.”

“For Whitey, from speaking to him about this stuff, he was going to go until the wheels came off,” said Hooper.

“It might not look like the wheels are coming off at the moment, but he would have given everything he’s got to this game as a player on the field. So he would know the time’s right because he always had that mentality as a player.”

White led from the front alongside Will Skelton to deliver a spark and air of aggression missing from the opening two Tests where Gordon started.

“He’s awesome to play alongside, and he’s awesome because he’s just an absolute competitor,” said Hooper.

“He’s into everything, he’s ripping in. He wants to take the line on, he wants to get his kick into the game, but then he also wants to create for the players around him.

“Sometimes he can be so frustrating to play alongside because he’s barking at the ref, he’s barking at you, he’s barking at everyone, and you need him to temper that aggression.

“But I tell you, he’ll always take that aggression over someone more passive.”

Former Wallaby Morgan Turinui said White walks a fine line.

“Sometimes, I think, recently in the last few years, especially, he’s probably gone too far, but I thought his balance of play this evening, being abrasive, being chirpy, but also the quality of his kicking game has been crucial for the Wallabies,” Turinui said.