Scotland v Romania: Rugby World Cup 2023 – live | Rugby World Cup 2023
Key events
27 mins. Another punchy carry from Watson has Scotland up to the 5m line, but as the ball is moved to Smith he overruns and can’t hold it with the line at his mercy. Romania ambitiously run it out via Chirica, but the ball spurts into touch.
24 mins. Romania enjoy a few phases of possession, bumping some carries around halfway before Rupanu puts a big kick up that Healy bounces off his chest when attempting to catch.
From the scrum Jason Tomane has a huge carry through the Scotland midfield and into the 22; but he ran so far his support was slow to arrive and he is penalised for holding on while he waited for them.
TRY! Scotland 21 – 0 Romania (Darcy Graham)
20 mins. Scotland are a little laboured in possession on the 10m line until Graham streaks off his wing to take a short pass that puts him through a gap and he swivels his hips and steps round Simionescu to score.
Healy converts.
TRY! Scotland 14 – 0 Romania (Ali Price)
16 mins. A Scottish lineout midway into the Romania half has a settling catch and drive before Price releases the ball to Healy, who finds Darcy Graham off his wing and through a midfield gap to bear down on the fullback and pass right to Price to run in unopposed.
Healy adds two.
12 mins. As you’d expect, it’s all Scotland, with everyone getting involved in carrying the ball, including Javan Sebastian who has a cracking run in midfield, throwing a couple of dummies in for good measure.
But, The Oaks are doing a reasonable containment job so far and win a breakdown penalty for their efforts.
TRY! Scotland 7 – 0 Romania (Hamish Watson)
9 mins. Plenty of possession from Scotland, with Watson prominent with a couple of trademark pinballing carries in the previous phases, before he again pops up – this time in the 13 channel – to receive a Redpath offload to race on an outside arc to the corner.
Ben Healy converts
5 mins. A loose ball from a Scotland lineout is volleyed forward by Adrian Motoc, which is tidied by a retreating Graham. The winger spins 180 and sprints away from Romanian tacklers and flies into the oppostion half before passing to Skinner who can’t grasp it.
That’s the first flash of what Darcy Graham can do to the Oaks broken field defence.
2 mins. Scotland look to move the ball through hands, but it ends up with Ali Price deciding it’s best to boot it clear. Romania and clumsy with possession, accidentally toeing it into touch, which allows the Scots to move forward into The Oaks half froma lineout.
KICK OFF!
Wayne Barnes toots on this whistling flute, which signals Alin Conache to lump the ball deep to get us underway
The teams are out on the pitch in Lille, with much anthemic emotion happening.
Javan Sebastian is in for the match today, and he wants to seize his chance.
I’m expecting a procession from Scotland here, but you may think different. Or you may have a view on what specific type of procession Scotland need to prepare them for Ireland next. Send these and all reflections to my Email if you feel motivated.
Teams
It speaks much to the nature of the opposition that Gregor Townsend has made thirteen changes to the starting XV, with only Kyle Steyn and Chris Harris keeping their shirts from the Tonga win. Grant Gilchrist will captain the side as Jamie Ritchie sits this one out following a head knock last week.
Not to be too far outdone, Romania make ten changes of their own, including Taliauli Sikuea making his World Cup debut on the wing.
Scotland: 15 Ollie Smith, 14 Darcy Graham, 13 Chris Harris, 12 Cameron Redpath, 11 Kyle Steyn, 10 Ben Healy, 9 Ali Price, 8 Matt Fagerson, 7 Hamish Watson, 6 Luke Crosbie, 5 Grant Gilchrist (c), 4 Sam Skinner, 3 Javan Sebastian, 2 Ewan Ashman, 1 Jamie Bhatti
Replacements: 16 Johnny Matthews, 17 Rory Sutherland, 18 WP Nel, 19 Scott Cummings, 20 Rory Darge, 21 George Horne, 22 Blair Kinghorn, 23 Huw Jones
Romania: 15 Marius Simionescu, 14 Sioeli Lama, 13 Jason Tomane, 12 Fonovai Tangimana, 11 Taliauli Sikuea, 10 Alin Conache, 9 Gabriel Rupanu, 8 Cristian Chirica (c), 7 Dragos Ser, 6 Florian Rosu, 5 Stefan Iancu, 4 Adrian Motoc, 3 Gheorghe Gajion, 2 Robert Irimescu, 1 Alexandru Savin
Replacements: 16 Florin Bardasu, 17 Iulian Hartig, 18 Costel Burtila, 19 Marius Iftimiciuc, 20 Damian Stratila, 21 Florin Surugiu, 22 Tudor Boldor, 23 Nicholas Onutu
Preamble
The knife fight of the top three sides in Pool B has a couple of side skirmishes this weekend, the first being this evening kick-off between Scotland and Romania, with South Africa taking on Tonga tomorrow.
Scotland have a simple ask ahead of them to get of of this pool: a bonus point win over The Oaks today, then vanquishing end-level boss Ireland next week by seven points.
While simple does not necessarily mean easy, it certainly does when it comes to Romania who have been absolutely panelled in their two matches so far. It’s difficult to foresee a different outcome here, leaving Scotland to focus on the big test to come.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/live/2023/sep/30/scotland-v-romania-rugby-world-cup-2023-live Scotland v Romania: Rugby World Cup 2023 – live | Rugby World Cup 2023
