The Sale Sharks and Scotland back-row forward admitted yesterday he had not been firing on all cylinders this season, after undergoing a major knee reconstruction last year. The 30-year-old was out of the game for nine months, but was pressed back into action at international level with World Cup warm-up games against Ireland and South Africa and then the tournament matches in France.

He has suffered problems with his knee since returning from the World Cup and though he played for Scotland, before losing his place to Alasdair Strokosch during the RBS Six Nations Championship, and the final games of the season with Sale – defeat at the weekend meant his club just missed out on the Guinness Premiership play-offs – White has pulled out of Scotland's tour to Argentina next month to go under the knife again.

"It's about getting the balance right between how important it is to play for Scotland and doing the sensible and right thing in the long term," he explained. "I spoke to the medics at Sale, Scotland doctor James Robson and Frank Hadden (national coach] and all agreed that the best thing for me and my long-term future was to have the tidy-up operation on my knee now.

"I have been able to play, but in terms of athletic ability I have been hampered by it. Since the operation (in November 2006] I have not been able to get the full extension in my leg. There is a problem with muscle strength, speed and making tackles.

"I think there has maybe been some flare-ups with the cartilage damage from the original injury, which appears to be quite common. You are never normally injury-free as a rugby player – apart from perhaps the first game of a new season – so you get used to pain here or there. I take plenty of anti-inflammatories and pain-killers to keep me going, though I've not needed any injections. But this op will hopefully clear up a lot of that and get me back to full movement again.

"As much as I would have liked to have gone to Argentina, this is the right thing. It's just keyhole surgery – the best-case scenario is a six-week recovery and the worst 12 weeks, depending on what they find when they go in. But my hope is to have a really good pre-season and be fresh and raring to go for a good season next year."

There are extra incentives for a good 2008-9 for White – the prospect of playing New Zealand, South Africa and then Canada at his "home ground" in the autumn, and pushing for another British and Irish Lions tour.

Yesterday, he was speaking at Pittodrie, the home of Aberdeen FC, at the SRU announcement that Scotland will play Canada there in the final autumn Test match of the year. The Test, on Saturday, 22 November, is part of a wider campaign in partnership with Aberdeen City Council and Aberdeenshire Council, through schools and clubs, to boost playing numbers in the north of Scotland.

White attended Culter Primary School and Cults Academy and he recalled running out as an Aberdeen ball-boy dreaming of one day playing at Pittodrie. "I have been lucky enough to play in some great world rugby stadiums, but it would be nice to play in my home stadium," he said. "As a kid, I never thought I would do it as my football was not that great, so to be captain of Scotland, at Pittodrie, if that was to happen, would be amazing.

"Having grown up here I have great memories of playing rugby in Aberdeen. I missed the Barbarians game here three years ago because I broke my thumb, but it was a great occasion. Hopefully, more kids will come to this Scotland game from up here than would go to Murrayfield and we might get a Wimbledon effect, where they then go along to their mini rugby clubs. For me, it's a great chance to play in front of home fans on a pitch where I was once a ball-boy. I can't remember which game it was, but it was when Theo Snelders was in goal, with Alex McLeish, Willie Miller and John Hewitt still playing."

As to whether White might grace Scottish grounds more often in future, he revealed it was now a more tempting possibility. He still has a year left on his deal at Sale, but admitted: "(Returning to Scotland] is definitely attractive because of the way Edinburgh and Glasgow are playing.

"It is definitely a good option for me. Edinburgh has a real competitive team, it's maturing, and Andy Robinson is a coach I would learn from. I would not rule out moving to Glasgow either, and if there was ever an opportunity of a third team in Aberdeen, I would come up here."