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 scored a try for a 27-point haul in his Rugby World Cup debut.
Slippery wing Darcy Graham became the first Scot to score four tries in a Rugby World Cup match. Graham has 12 tries in his last seven tests.
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 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. By the time Irimescu returned, Romania remained with 13 men as fullback Marius Simionescu was sin-binned.
Scotland scored three tries against 13 men, one try against 14, and eight tries against 15.
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