KEY POINTS:
He's been around for a while, has Nick White. In an Auckland career that has spanned more than a decade, he's seen the good and the bad.
2008 is about as bad as it has been. "It wasn't great," says the veteran prop of Auckland's season where they failed to make the top eight. "I think there were a lot of factors.
"It's pretty well documented that we lost a number of players from last year. I'm not too sure what the official number is - up around 10 or 12. Losing both Johnny Afoa and Jerome [Kaino] was a factor. It took us a little bit of time to adjust to the new rules. We ran the ball quite a bit in the last few years and I suppose the new rules meant you didn't want to get caught in your own 40.
"And we made a lot of errors. We created a lot of opportunities to score but we couldn't finish them off.
"We can't put it all on the young players. It was right through the team. In the end, it comes down to individuals having to be at their best. The guys were trying too hard and that sometimes has the opposite effect."
There is an air of disillusionment laced into White's assessment. He knows the what, he can't understand the why. Even accounting for the loss of so many players, Auckland still massively underperformed.
Transition is part of the rugby landscape. Every year, players leave and new ones take their place. Auckland have never had stability of personnel. What they have done is weather the departures by discovering new stars.
That just didn't happen in 2008. Lachie Munro stalled at first-five. Peter Saili was industrious without being effective at No 8 and, at just 21, Charlie Faumuina couldn't quite dominate fellow props.
It would be unfair to suggest the next generation of Auckland players are not going to make the cut. While White agrees there wasn't enough grasping of opportunity, those trying to break through were hampered by lack of experience around them.
"Over the last couple of years, we have had three or four young guys come in who have come off the bench in the last 20 minutes or had the odd start, done really well and gained a lot of confidence. But this year, a lot came into starting spots and hadn't really been put under that sort of pressure and game intensity.
"We lost all those players and that opened up a lot of doors for guys who had been around for a couple of years to step up, which I don't think we did as well as we could have.
"At the end of the day, the union should be better off at the other end but that's easy to say. There is still an awful lot of work to be done to make sure the union has a big improvement next year."
That failure to progress to the knockout rounds has cost White personally. He lost the opportunity to push himself into a Super 14 spot next year.
At 34, White knows he's only a maybe. And he knows, from bitter experience, that is not the best place to be.
"I was told one year that I was going to be in a Super 14 team and then the day before I found out I wasn't.
"I missed an opportunity to go overseas. It used to be a nightmare. I was still contracted to the NZRU and was not being paid.
"I worked as a fencing contractor.
"It actually worked out really well because it gave me a break from rugby and that was the only break I had had since 1999."
This time round, there is an element of comfort. He's contracted for another year which means, selected or not, he'll be paid for the next 12 months.
White would rather play for his money and believes he's got another year in him. His ambition once he hangs up his boots is to get into coaching, use the expert knowledge he has accumulated about scrummaging.
But that's down the track. For now, he still wants to play. The introduction of the new rules has kept the ball in play for longer but with so much more kicking, there are periods in the game where the forwards actually stand still, unable to move while the aerial ping-pong is in full swing.
White says he's not getting any faster but he hasn't felt that the game has left him behind. He was happy with his contribution to the Blues this year and, having looked around the country, he says: "My best chance of getting in [to a Super 14 side] is here. You don't ever want to say no [to the draft] but when I look at it, the only place I am going to get in is here, with the Blues.
"I probably won't be picked up in the draft because most teams are fairly well off with props. It will be here or nothing I would imagine."
With three young children, heading overseas isn't an option. If he misses out, it will probably be a case of playing some club rugby and hopefully picking up a contract with Auckland. And if that doesn't work out, he'll pursue coaching opportunities.
"I am on 90 games for Auckland, the opportunity to play 100 would be great. But it will depend on who is selected as coach and what their plans are."
