Scotland 48 Romania 6: White falls to injury curse on day of proud parents and dashing debuts

A clump of Edinburgh turf was responsible for inflicting the one piece of collateral damage suffered by Frank Hadden's side in their opening autumn international. For Jason White, it was a sod in every respect.

Memorably described by his back-row colleague Simon Taylor as "the kind of brute you can imagine clearing skulls with a battle axe in days of yore", the Scotland captain turned to chase a Romanian and caught his studs in the pitch. The result? A badly twisted right knee. "I'm crossing all my fingers and toes that [today's] scan doesn't show anything serious," White said. "And to think: I reckoned I had escaped the back-row knee jinx."

With Allister Hogg incapacitated by medial ligament damage and Taylor on the comeback trail after suffering an identical injury in May, Scotland are likely to be without their entire back-row trinity for the rest of the autumn at least.

Still, the No 8 Johnnie Beattie's fine display was a plus. It took his father seven years to score for Scotland in a full cap international but the 20-year-old Glasgow player managed it in 13 minutes and 53 seconds. "Oh my word!" John Beattie exclaimed in his BBC television commentary as his son crossed the line. "Well, his mum has a bit of pace. Young Beattie scores in his first game for Scotland."

The centre Rob Dewey also scored on his debut and the fly-half Phil Godman scored a try, a penalty and five conversions on his first start. The real stars, though, were Hugo Southwell, who bagged two tries and was back to his best at full-back, and Mike Blair, who sniped around rucks and mauls all afternoon. Their pace and precision sparked Scot-land's high-tempo play.

Scotland: Tries Beattie, Southwell 2, Dewey, Godman, Hall, Cusiter; Conversions Godman 5; Penalty Godman. Romania: Penalties Vlaicu 2.

Scotland: H Southwell; S Webster, M Di Rollo, R Dewey (all Edinburgh), S Lamont (Northampton); P Godman , M Blair (both Edinburgh); G Kerr (Borders), D Hall (Edinburgh), E Murray (Glasgow), N Hines (Perpignan), S Murray (Edinburgh), J White (Sale, capt), K Brown (Borders), J Beattie (Glasgow). Replacements: D Callam (Edinburgh) for White, 40); A Jacobsen (Edinburgh) for Kerr, 51; C Smith (Edinburgh) for E Murray, 55; J Hamilton (Leicester) for Hines, 55; C Cusiter (Borders) for Blair, 61; C Paterson (Edinburgh) for Southwell, 66, S Lawson (Glasgow) for Hall, 70.

Romania: F Vlaicu (Steaua Bucharest); G Brezoianu (Metro Racing), C Dascalu Steaua), R Gontineac (Aurillac), I Teodorescu (Dinamo Bucharest); I Dimofte (Arad), V Calafeteanu (Dinamo); P Balan (Biarritz), M Tincu (Perpignan), B Balan (Montauban), S Socol (Agen, capt), C Petre (Brive), F Corodeanu (Grenoble), C Ratiu (Dinamo), O Tonita (Perpignan). Replacements: C Gal ( U Clui) for Dascalu, 53; I Paulica (Steaua) for B Balan, 58; V Ursache (Arad) for Corodeanu, 63; C Popescu (Agen) for P Balan, 64; I Tofan (Limoges) for Gontineac, 70; R Mavrodin (Pau) for Tincu, 72; A Lupu (Steaua) for Calafeteanu, 73.

Referee: M Goddard (Australia).