Darcy Graham, with four tries, was one of the great architects of the great Scottish success. SAMEER AL-DOUMY / AFP
The XV du Chardon easily got rid of the Romanians this Saturday evening in Villeneuve-d’Ascq (84-0).
The Chardon XV can always dream of qualifying for the quarter-finals of the Rugby World Cup. Despite a largely reshuffled starting XV, Gregor Townsend and his staff having decided to rest many executives, Scotland crushed Romania (84-0) this Saturday evening in Pool B at the Pierre-Mauroy stadium in Villeneuve- of Ascq.
It took just eight minutes for captain Grant Gilchrist’s teammates to score their first try through the experienced Hamish Watson. But the man of this first period is inevitably the will-o’-the-wisp Darcy Graham, author of a hat-trick (20th, 34th, 39th), including a magnificent 50-meter solo ride, where he beat 4 Romanian defenders. Scrum half Ali Price in a mouse hole (16th) and third row Matt Fagerson (37th) in power, also participated in the Scottish festival.
This first act was also marked by the glaring indiscipline of the Romanians, who received three yellow cards in the space of 10 minutes. Robert Irimescu, guilty of a tackle on the jaw of Ben Healy (31st), Valentin Rosu, who voluntarily collapsed a Scottish maul in a scoring position (32nd) and Marius Simionescu, also author of a high tackle on Ollie Smith (38th), left their partners numerically inferior and at 12 for a few moments.
42-0 in the first act, same sentence after returning from the locker room
Returning from the locker room, the Scots continued their festival with a try from Chris Harris (44th), who benefited from the hard work of his friend in the center Cameron Redpath, receiving a cross at the foot of Ben Healy. Behind, Ollie Smith distinguished himself with a crazy 60-meter run (54th) to score the eighth try. But the Romanians’ path of the cross, worst defense in the competition after their scathing defeats against Ireland (82-8) and South Africa (76-0), did not stop there.
Surgical against the poles (12/12, 24 points), scorer Ben Healy enhanced his performance with a try (56th), served on a plate by Darcy Graham. In the last quarter of an hour, the XV du Chardon initialed its success with three new banners planted by Johnny Matthews (70th), Rory Darge (72nd) and Darcy Graham (76th), finally author of a quadruplet.
With this improved success, Scotland will therefore play their qualification against Ireland, leader of Pool B, on Saturday October 7 (9 p.m.). In the event of victory, and if the XV of Clover does not obtain a bonus, it could find… the XV of France in the final phase.
