Ben White became the youngest Premiership Rugby player in Leicester Tigers' history when he came off the bench to make his debut against Harlequins on Sunday.Academy scrum-half White came on for the final two minutes of the 22-19 Aviva Premiership victory over Quins at Welford Road, playing a crucial role at a defensive scrum and tidying up at a couple of rucks in the final stages.
"He’s a confident young lad and he's spent a lot of time with those forwards during pre-season, feeding into live scrums," said Tigers director of rugby Richard Cockerill. "I had no problems in putting him on the field. He's done that a million times in training over pre-season. He kept his head and got through it. I’m delighted for him to be there when we got the result."
And at 17 years and 151 days, White is the second-youngest player to ever play in Premiership Rugby - behind David Doherty of Leeds - and the youngest Tiger to appear in the competition.
White beat the previous club record set by fellow scrum-half Ben Youngs, who was 17 years and 231 days when he made his debut as a late replacement against Bristol at Ashton Gate in April 2007.
George Ford is the third-youngest Tigers player in the Premiership, aged 17 years and 256 days when he made his debut against Newcastle Falcons at Welford Road in November 2010.
Ollie Smith (18 years and 33 days v London Irish at Welford Road in September 2000) and Andy Goode (18 years and 204 days v Richmond at Welford Road in 1998) are the previous youngest players to make a Premiership appearance in Tigers colours.
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White becomes Tigers' youngest Premiership player
25 October 2015 6:44 PM
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