Rugby: Scotland sets sights on crucial showdown with Romania

Scotland face a struggling Romania in the Rugby World Cup on Saturday in Lille, but coach Gregor Townsend and his players will have one eye on next week’s game with Ireland

Townsend’s side are expected to comfortably beat the Oaks this weekend with a bonus-point victory, which they need if their hopes of reaching the quarter-finals are to be kept alive.

SCOTLAND

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They will then have to repeat the feat on October 7 in Paris against world number one side Ireland to garner any aspirations of reaching the last-eight.

After losing to holders South Africa on the opening weekend and then beating Tonga, Scotland’s future in the World Cup hangs in the balance.

“This weekend is vital but it’s the only thing we can control at the minute,” captain Grant Gilchrist told reporters on Thursday.

“Without five points this weekend we can’t even talk about next weekend.

“A better performance really launches us into next week.

“If we can do that we’ll put ourselves in the best position to kick on again,” the lock added.

Former Scotland and British and Irish Lions fly-half Townsend has made 13 changes to the team that brushed aside Tonga in Marseille last Sunday.

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Fly-half Ben Healy is one of four players set to make their World Cup debuts with the 24-year-old replacing the influential Finn Russell on just his fourth Test appearance.

“On the field he is confident to tell forwards what they should be doing, what we’re doing next in our attack, which is great,” Townsend said.

“That is what you want in a 10.

“I know the players and him have a lot of fun. He has fit in really well with the group,” Townsend added.

• ‘Razzle-dazzle’ –
  Romania, 14 places below Townsend’s side in the world rankings, have conceded 158 in their opening two games, heavy defeats by Ireland and the Springboks.

“We know what we need from this game,” Irish-born Healy said.

“There’s no point looking to next week and not getting what we want on Saturday,” he added.

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ROMANIA

Townsend’s Romania counterpart Eugen Apjok keeps only five players from the rout by the Springboks, two weeks ago.

The Oaks’ lack of recent top level Test matches has been highlighted so far in the World Cup, having reached France after Spain were thrown out of the competition for fielding an ineligible player during qualification.

They are far from the side that beat Scotland in 1991 or the outfit that ran the same opponents very close 12 years ago at the World Cup in New Zealand, the last meeting between the sides.

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“We are not all going to try and score tries that aren’t there,” Gilchrist said.

“The obvious one is throwing 50-50 offloads if you think it’s on. It’s got to be definite.

“It’s got to be mistakes in your favour, not trying the razzle-dazzle.

“We want to try and build phases, we want to put pressure on them,” he added.

By Illtud DAFYDD ..

By Illtud DAFYDD © Agence France-Presse