Shining White in super debut

Aug 26 2002 By Chris Roberts, The Huddersfield Daily Examiner

Gateshead 16 - 50 Giants. RISING Giants star Paul White has taken another huge step on the road that many predict will lead to the top.

On a day when the spotlight was expected to fall on Chris Thorman's first competitive encounter against younger brothers Paul and Neil or on the return to the Giants of Marcus St Hilaire, the teenage scrum half stole everyone's thunder with a dazzling hat trick of tries on his full senior debut.

White had already shown his potential by scoring a try as a second-half substitute in his first senior outing, also against Gateshead, two months ago.

But the razor-sharp half-back proved he can be just as destructive from the start as he cut loose once in the opening period and then twice after the break to crown a great individual effort.

Unfortunately, however, that's likely to be the last sight of White in a senior shirt this season, and he may well be playing in tomorrow's home Senior Academy clash against Wigan at Fartown.

But several other members of Huddersfield's senior squad may also now find themselves in the same boat as White.

With just two NFP games remaining before the start of the play-offs, head coach Tony Smith will be preparing his strongest squad in readiness for the critical battles that lie ahead.

Those top-line players rested for the Gateshead clash - captain Steve McNamara, Paul Reilly, Stanley Gene, Rob Roberts, Dave Atkins and Heath Cruckshank - will all be back in the frame for the key matches that have still to be played.

And even though their worthy replacements ensured that Gateshead were beaten with the miminum of fuss, the lack of so many big-game players did have an effect on the Giants' overall performance.

At times the visitors looked lethargic, lacking a cutting edge on attack and producing several unforced errors which took the gloss off a 25th successive victory.