LILLE, France (AP) — Scotland confirmed the showdown it craves with Ireland for a place in the Rugby World Cup quarterfinals after routing hapless Romania 84-0 on Saturday.
Top-ranked Ireland leads Pool B but it could possibly fail to reach the quarterfinals if it loses to Scotland next Saturday at Stade de France.
How many of the Scots who ran rings around the Romanians will face Ireland is debatable, though. Scotland rested 13 front-liners, who watched in comfort at Stade Pierre-Mauroy as their squad mates racked up 12 converted tries, 11 of them converted by Ben Healy, who added a try for a 27-point haul in his Rugby World Cup debut.
Ireland had its bye this weekend and will have had two weeks rest by the time it lines up against Scotland to determine both their fates.
Coach Gregor Townsend praised his players for “a professional job,” and relished having Ireland next.
“This gives us really good momentum ahead of our biggest game of the World Cup,” he said. “It’s a real credit to the 23 tonight and sets up whoever plays against Ireland with a lot of positivity. We’ve got to produce probably our best performance of the year, one of our best-ever performances. It’ll be a cracking game, Stade de France full of Scotland and Ireland fans.”
Slippery wing Darcy Graham beat 14 defenders to become the second Scot to score four tries in a Rugby World Cup match, after Gavin Hastings in 1995 against Ivory Coast.
“We go to Paris all guns blazing and put on our best performance,” Graham said. “Time to rest up and kick on next week.”
Scotland was one try short of its highest Rugby World Cup score in achieving its third highest total ever.
The B side was warned it would run up a big score but was told to stick to the script, trust its structures, and give a team performance.
It ticked every box.
The Scots started the match stringing 11 phases. Another nine phases finished with a Cameron Redpath break and perfect pop up for former Lion Hamish Watson to score in his first test in almost two months.
And they were off.
Scotland had the bonus-point fourth try in the 34th minute, not as fast as the 12 minutes South Africa took but as quick as it took Ireland in its 82-8 win.
Graham had a hat trick by halftime, when Scotland led 42-0.
Romania was down to 13 men by then after yellow cards to forwards Robert Irimescu and Florian Rosu. When Irimescu returned, Romania remained with 13 as fullback Marius Simionescu was sin-binned.
Scotland scored three tries against 13 men, one try against 14, and eight tries against 15.
Despite appearances and 71 missed tackles, Romania defended superbly close to its line. But from far out, it couldn’t touch Scotland’s backs.
While they met Scotland’s second string, the Romanians were also weaker after making 10 changes to rest some of their best players. Off the bench came 38-year-old Florin Surugiu, who played Scotland in the 2011 Rugby World Cup. Romania rightly regards its last pool game against Tonga next week as its best chance for a win.
But that’s also a long shot. The once mighty Oaks have suffered five straight record defeats following Georgia and Italy in the warmups, and Ireland and South Africa in the tournament. They have conceded 36 tries in three matches, far surpassing the record 26 conceded in the 2003 tournament.
Graham was the only Scot to score more than one try. Other scorers were Matt Fagerson, Chris Harris, Ollie Smith, Rory Darge, and Johnny Matthews on his team debut.
“What a night,” captain Grant Gilchrist said. “It’s been like playing at Murrayfield.”
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