Horne stars in tryfest for Scotland

FUKUROI CITY: George Horne scored a hattrick as Scotland ran in nine tries in a 610 bonuspoint thrashing of Russia last night to set up a crunch pool A showdown with host nation Japan for a place in the Rugby World Cup quarterfinals.

Horne scored his first two tries from halfback and added a third from the left wing as Scotland finally got its highoctane running game going in its third match in Japan.

First fiveeighth Adam Hastings, son of Scotland great Gavin, also made a significant contribution with the first two tries in four firsthalf minutes and eight conversions for a personal haul of 26 points. Horne crossed for what seemed like a Scottish recordequalling fourth try only for referee Wayne Barnes to call it back for a forward pass.

Neither Horne nor Hastings are likely to start in Yokohama on Sunday, when the Scots take on Japan almost certainly needing to record a victory and deprive the host of a bonus point to progress to the knockout stages.

That match in Yokohama, however, is in danger of being disrupted by Typhoon Hagibis, which is projected to strike the Tokyo area on Saturday, bringing strong winds and heavy rain.

Scotland made 14 changes from the team that beat Samoa 340 and many of the players had a dual goal of winning the game as well as trying to force their way into consideration for Sunday’s match.

Scotland’s scoring in the first half came in an eightminute burst, when Hastings crossed twice and Horne intercepted a flat pass by Dmitry Perov on his own tryline to give Scotland a 210 lead at the break.

Horne secured the bonus point after a brilliant weaving run of more than 60m from Darcy Graham, who was the only player who also started against Samoa.

Russia then ran out of steam and its defence faltered as it missed 41 tackles. Hooker George Turner and winger Tommy Seymour crossed before Horne completed his hattrick with more than 20 minutes remaining.

Match captain John Barclay brought up the half century. It was just the 13th time Scotland had surpassed 50 points in tests, when he burst free with about five minutes remaining.

Squad captain Stuart McInally completed the scoring, although Hastings did cross after the gong, only for Barnes to again rule the try out. — Reuters

PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES Romping home . . . Scotland’s Stuart McInally scores his team’s ninth try during the group A game against Russia at Shizuoka Stadium in Fukuroi City yesterday. Scotland trounced Russia 610.