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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Tom Sunderland

Scotland hero Ben White dubs debut try against England the 'best 10 minutes of my life'

Debuts don't get much more efficient than the one Ben White enjoyed against England on Saturday, scoring within minutes of his introduction to lift Scotland to a memorable Six Nations victory.

The London Irish scrum-half has enjoyed plenty of highs in rugby before making his Test debut in the Calcutta Cup, but he was quick to call his cameo "the best 10 minutes of my [his] life" so far.

That was roughly how long his Scotland debut initially lasted before he was called back off the Murrayfield turf, with starting scrum-half Ali Price having passed his early head injury assessment (HIA) in the capital.

White later re-entered the fray midway through the second half and helped Gregor Townsend 's men clinch a narrow 20-17 win, beating England in successive meetings for the first time since 1984.

Two penalties from Finn Russell and a late penalty try thanks to Luke Cowan-Dickie helped settle the score, but it was White's try in the 18th minute that set a tenacious tone:

“It was an incredible experience,” said White of his early impact on debut. “I don’t think words can do it justice. It was absolutely amazing.

“I walked off and said to one of the lads of the bench, ‘that was the best ten minutes of my life’! If anything, getting on like that was good. It took away the nerves and angst of maybe waiting until the last 20 minutes.

“Just to be thrown in at the deep end was a good thing. You just go on and do your job.”

There was a time when the Stoke-on-Trent native envisioned his Test breakthrough would come in England white, having spent his whole career there and representing England under-20s on 11 occasions.

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Still only 23 years of age, White qualifies for Scotland through a grandfather and understandably grabbed attention having impressed for the Exiles since leaving Leicester Tigers last summer.

“I just knew when I passed it to Hoggy [Stuart Hogg] that we might be on here and then Darcy [Graham] cut a class line and I was just sprinting as fast as I could to make sure that I was with him,” he recounted of the try.

“You can run that line 50 times a year and not get it, but luckily Darcy’s footwork was amazing, and he put the pass on the money.

“The feeling...I mean words can’t describe it or do it justice, it was amazing.”

(David Rogers/Getty Images)

Not every cap to come will be as momentous as that debut outing against Scotland's old rivals, but his involvement in future Tests under Townsend seems certain.

British and Irish Lions -capped Price—who was also born and raised in England—has ownership of the No. 9 jersey for the time being, but White is making all the right moves to one day challenge for the role.

Saturday's second-round visit to Wales will be the next opportunity to test his talents on the international stage, with Wayne Pivac's men still reeling from their 29-7 defeat in Ireland.

White would be hard-pressed to conjure up a more magical moment than that decisive score on his debut, though helping Scotland to a first win in Cardiff since 2002 wouldn't be far off at all.

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