Scotland vs Romania Betting Tips: Two predictions for Rugby World Cup clash

Scotland will be desperate to claim another bonus point victory in Saturday night's Rugby World Cup clash with Romania as they look to keep their qualification hopes alive. With Ireland to face in their final Pool B match the Scots know it will all be about next weekend's tie with the flourishing Irish, but firstly they have to dispatch a Romanian side that have been battered in their first two matches and head into this contest as huge outsiders.

There's no surprise that Scotland will be red-hot odds-on favourites for this match, but our man Steve Chambers looks beyond the outright winner odds and looks for some alternative value in what should be a one-sided affair from the first whistle...

Scotland bounced back from an opening 18-3 defeat to South Africa by trouncing Tonga 45-17 and they will be looking to kick on from that success when they face Romania in Lille on Saturday and Gregor Townsend's men have been installed as the 1/200 favourites to claim their second victory at this year's Rugby World Cup. Romania have found this tournament a bridge too far and having been walloped 82-8 in their first match against Ireland they were then trounced 76-0 by South Africa in their second game. A whopping 100/1 to win this match with some bookmakers, Romania are set for another tough evening that could see them struggle on the big stage once again.

With such limited value available you have to head into the handicap betting and Romania have certainly tired in the closing stages of matches conceding over 40 points in the second half of both defeats to the Springboks and the Irish. Scotland may have made 13 changes for this match, as they have their sights firmly on next weekend's make-or-break game against Ireland, but they will have a strong line-up heading out and the second string will be eager to try and make it into next week's squad.

So, the 10/11 about Scotland -30 on the second half handicap looks a decent bet for punters, as they will be able to bring on much stronger players from the bench than their Romanian counterparts and Townsend's side can inflict more misery on their lowly opponents, who will be out on their feet in the closing stages of the game.

With the match being such a one-sided affair from a betting perspective it's tough to try and find some value, but there could be one Scottish player that relishes the chance to face Romania and that is full-back Ollie Price, who is an attractive 11/5 with bet365 to score two tries during the 80 minutes.

The 23-year-old Glasgow Warriors star only earned his first international call-up for the 2022 Six Nations, so he's still finding his feet, but he's shown already during his fledgling career that he's a menace in attack and despite him starting at 15 he could well be switched to the wing during this match. Romania's rearguard will get leakier and leakier as the game goes on, so Smith could well find himself in plenty of try-scoring positions and he can go over the try-line on two occasions and land us another tip.

For those looking for a bit more juice in the betting then why not take a chance on Smith igniting a comfortable Scotland win and the 9/1 for him to score at anytime is worth snapping up in what could be a game that sees Scotland inflict another 70-point defeat on their European adversaries.