Hogg hat-trick inspires Scots victory

Chris Paterson opened the scoring after little more than a minute of action and further tries were added in the first half by Hogg and Rory Lamont as Frank Hadden's side displayed more fluency than they had in their opening win over Portugal.

Hogg then touched down twice in the same corner within 12 minutes of the start of the second period to complete his treble before Lamont notched his second of the evening to end the scoring.

Hadden's men now prepare for the meeting with the All Blacks in Edinburgh on Sunday, when the Scotland coach may rest some of his key players ahead of the pivotal pool meeting with Italy in St Etienne a week on Saturday.

Scotland made a dream start when the Romanians failed to deal with an up-and-under from Dan Parks and Paterson, recalled on the wing effectively at the expense of Marcus Di Rollo, gathered the loose ball.

The recalled utility back chipped ahead and was fortunate to see the ball elude the Romania defenders to allow him to touch down after just 68 seconds.

He added the conversion to make it 7-0 and came close to claiming a second try in the seventh minute - after Webster, playing in Di Rollo's midfield berth, had made a scorching break - but was stopped inches short of the line.

Stand-off Ionut Dimofte missed the chance to land a penalty for his side in a rare foray into Scotland territory but the first quarter of the match was otherwise dominated by the home side and Parks in particular.

That superiority was demonstrated in the 17th minute when a classic rolling maul from the forwards culminated in a try from close range for flanker Hogg, Paterson converting.

The game was lit up just after the midway point in the half when Rory Lamont showed why he is currently Scotland's most dangerous runner with a rapier break which Romania's scrambling defence did well to snuff out 10 metres from their own line.