Scotland beat Romania 84-0 in Lille to keep Rugby World Cup hopes alive

Scotland have defeated Romania in Lille to keep their Rugby World Cup hopes alive ahead of a final group game showdown with Ireland.

Gregor Townsend’s side ran out 84-0 winners on Saturday night against the group minnows at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy.

The result is just short of Scotland’s biggest ever World Cup win, an 89-0 over Ivory Coast in 1995.

Scotland raced ahead to a 21-0 lead in the opening 20 minutes through tries from Hamish Watson, Ali Price and Darcy Graham.

Graham grabbed another try to make it 26-0 and Ben Healy slotted home the conversion to make it 28-0.

Matt Fagerson added another try before Graham completed his hat-trick to give them a commanding 42-0 lead by half-time.

Scotland continued where they left off after the break with Chris Harris, Ollie Smith, Ben Healy, Johnny Matthews and Rory Darge all adding to the score without reply before Graham grabbed his fourth try of the game.

Townsend rang the changes for his side’s must-win match against World Cup Pool B minnows Romania in Lille.

There were 13 alterations to the starting XV for the match at Stade Pierre-Mauroy, with the Scots clearly confident they will be able to get the bonus-point victory they require even without several of their big-hitters.

Prop Javan Sebastian – with six appearances as a substitute – made his first start for Scotland, while Luke Crosbie, Hamish Watson and Ben Healy all came in for their first outing of the tournament.

Romania have lost heavily to both Ireland and South Africa and are widely expected to be put to the sword by the Scots, who are hoping to set up a qualification shoot-out with the Irish in Paris next weekend.

Watson got them off and running with an eighth-minute try before Price added the second of the night nine minutes later.

Graham landed the third of the evening to move level with Duhan van der Merwe as Scotland’s joint-fifth highest try-scorer.

Scotland were in cruise control by half-time in their Pool B match against an undisciplined Romania after running in six tries to lead 42-0 and set themselves firmly on course for the bonus-point win they need.

Graham moved up to fourth in the Scots’ all-time try-scoring list with a hat-trick before the break, while Matt Fagerson added to the try-scorers.

The Romanians’ hopes of keeping things respectable were dented by yellow cards for three of their players in the lead-up to half-time.

Scotland were on course for one of their biggest-ever victories as they led Romania 63-0 after an hour.

The Scots – whose record win was 89-0 against Ivory Coast at the 1995 World Cup – led 42-0 at half-time.

And the scores kept coming after the break, with Chris Harris, Ollie Smith and Ben Healy all touching down. Stand-off Healy successfully converted all nine of his team’s tries to this point.