Scotland run over Russia to set stage for Sunday

Scotland scored an emphatic 61-0 win over Russia on Wednesday afternoon in their Pool A match at Shizuoka. The nine-try performance sets the stage for a captivating match-up at Yokohama on Sunday against Scotland, though Typhoon Hagibis may yet have a say before then.

Two tries and 26 points in all from Adam Hastings led the way with a hat-trick scored by his halfback partner George Horne. The latter’s second try just after halftime secured the bonus point, but Scotland were keen to keep going knowing that there is a scenario where points differential will matter.

While Scotland’s high-flying offense was in top gear, it was their defense that impressed even more-so. The Kilted Warriors missed only three tackles all game and in doing so became the first team to record back-to-back shutouts at a Rugby World Cup.

George Turner, Tommy Seymour, John Barclay, and Stuart McInally added scores before full-time. It leaves the Scots with a +71 differential, tops in the pool. They will still need to beat Japan outright to have a chance of going through, barring an upset win for Samoa over Ireland.

Russia’s tournament comes to a close with four defeats from four matches and only 19 points scored. They will be forced to qualify through the Rugby Europe Championship once again for RWC 2023, and are unlikely to be thrown the same administrative lifeline as they enjoyed this year.

 

SCORING

SCOTLAND 61
Tries – A. Hastings 2 (13′, 17′), G. Horne 3 (21′, 44′, 58′), G. Turner (50′), T. Seymour (55′), J. Barclay (74′), S. McInally (77′)
Cons – A. Hastings 8/9 (14′, 18′, 22′, 45′, 51′, 75′, 78′)

RUSSIA 0

 

TEAMS

SCOTLAND
1 Gordon Reid, 2 George Turner, 3 Zander Fagerson, 4 Scott Cummings, 5 Ben Toolis, 6 John Barclay (capt.), 7 Fraser Brown, 8 Ryan Wilson, 9 George Horne, 10 Adam Hastings, 11 Darcy Graham, 12 Peter Horne, 13 Duncan Taylor, 14 Tommy Seymour, 15 Blair Kinghorn

Replacements: 16 Stuart McInally, 17 Simon Berghan, 18 WP Nel, 19 Grant Gilchrist, 20 Magnus Bradbury, 21 Jamie Ritchie, 22 Henry Pyrgos, 23 Chris Harris

RUSSIA
1 Valeri Morozov, 2 Stanislav Selskiy, 3 Kirill Gotovtsev, 4 Andrei Ostrikov, 5 Evgeny Elgin, 6 Vitali Zhivatov, 7 Tagir Gadzhiev, 8 Nikita Vavilin, 9 Dmitri Perov, 10 Ramil Gaisin, 11 Vladislav Sozonov, 12 Dmitri Gerasimov, 13 Vladimir Ostroushko, 14 German Davydov, 15 Vasili Artemyev (capt.)

Replacements: 16 Sergei Chernyshev, 17 Azamat Bitiet, 18 Vladimir Podrezov, 19 Bogdan Fedotko, 20 Andrei Garbuzov, 21 Sergei Yanyushkin, 22 Anton Sychev, 23 Yuri Kushnarev

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)
Assistants: Alex Ruiz (France) & Federico Anselmi (Argentina)
TMO: Marius Jonker (South Africa)