This was always going to be a formality Scotland had to get through before moving on to next weekend’s showdown against Ireland in Paris, but there was still a sense of relief that they managed in such emphatic style and with no new injury concerns to key players.

Darcy Graham scored four tries to take his international total to 24, drawing level with Tony Stanger and Ian Smith in second place in Scotland’s all-time try-scoring table, three behind current record holder Stuart Hogg.

Scotland dominated from the start, but some inaccuracies during the first five minutes – which included a scrappy line-out, a couple of forced passes which didn’t come off and a missed penalty to the corner – meant that they didn’t make it count on the scoreboard until the eighth minute.

When that opening score came, it was a beauty, with Cam Redpath showing strength and great footwork to bounce a tackle and turn a pass which had gone behind him into an attacking opportunity. When the centre was finally closed down, his offload on the way to the deck found Hamish Watson, who rolled back the years as he scampered home.

Try number two came on 16 minutes, when a set-play from a line-out saw Healy loop around Redpath and then send Darcy Graham into space. The winger made good ground before feeding sending Ali Price, running a classic scrum-half support line, under the posts.

Price, of course, is another former stalwart – one of four British and Irish Lion who has dropped down the pecking order during the last year and a bit. Townsend was getting exactly the reaction he would have been hoping for. 

READ MORE: Scotland 84 Romania 0 - Graham closes in on Hogg with first-half hat-trick

Having made one try, Graham secured a score for himself five minutes later, with Price returning by breaking right and then popping back inside to send the winger through a gap and onto a 50-metre sprint to the line.

It looked for all the world like Ollie Smith was going in for the bonus point try just before the half-hour mark when he hit a great line off Price’s flat pass, but the winger couldn’t quite gather, and Romania showed their pluck by countering off the loose back from behind their own line to get as far as halfway.

Romania lost hooker Robert Irimescu to the sin-bin for a high hit on Healy and blindside flanker Florian Rosu for collapsing the maul on 30 and 32 minutes respectively, and in between times, the TMO ruled that Jamie Bhatti had been stopped short of the try-line.

It took Scotland a while to capitalise on the two-man advantage – not helped by conceding a scrum penalty for collapsing five yards from the Romania line – before a long passage of continuity play eventually saw Graham streaking home.

Next on the scoresheet was Matt Fagerson, bustling over from close range after Smith recycled despite being clobbered with a high hit by opposite number Marius Simionescu, which saw the Romanian full-back become the third member of his team to be sent to the sin-bin inside 10 minutes.

Romania desperately needed the half-time whistle, but they were told they had to restart by referee Wayne Barnes, and Scotland immediately piled further misery onto the bedraggled Eastern European, moving possession to Chris Harris straight from kick-off. The centre broke from his 22 to past halfway then fed Price on his inside, who quickly sent the ball back the way it had come to send Graham scuttling home for his hat-trick, making it 42-0 at the break.

Try number eight came after just four minutes of the second half when Healy sent over a fine cross-kick to Redpath, who held off the tackle and then sent Harris over on the left.

Bhatti had a try-scoring opportunity disallowed by the TMO for a second time in the match, this time he lost the ball forward in the act of ground.

Graham clearly had a taste for it, but he was penalised once after getting isolated as he scrambled for the line and he was nudged into touch a short while later as he tried to wriggle over in the corner.

Instead, it was Smith who was next in on the act, scoring off a long weaving run, then Graham showed that he didn’t have white-line fever by skipping through a couple of passes and feeding Healy, who still had the last man to beat before scoring his first international try under the posts just short of the hour mark.

To their credit, Romania roused themselves and managed to battle their way to the Scottish line, and Johnny Matthews – off the bench for his international debut – did well to get himself between the ball and the in-goal area turf. The losing team huffed and puffed inside the Scotland 22 for a few minutes more, but that was as close as they got.

Given his astonishing try-scoring record everywhere he has played whilst battling from amateur club rugby to finally make the international stage, it was almost inevitable that Matthews would mark his bow on the big stage with a try – and he did it style, under the posts at the end of sweeping attack featuring Graham and George Horne.

Matthews fed fellow replacement Rory Darge for try number 11, and Horne clipped over the quick drop-goal conversion as the Scots zoned in on eclipsing their World Cup record 89-0 win against Ivory Coast in 1995, and when Graham went in under the sticks with three minutes still to play they got to just five points away, but they couldn’t quite make it.

Teams –

Scotland: O Smith ( B Kinghorn 58); D Graham, C Harris (H Jones 63), C Redpath, K Steyn; B Healy, A Price (G Horne 54); J Bhatti (R Sutherland 58), E Ashman (J Matthews 58), J Sebastian (W Nel 58), S Skinner, G Gilchrist (S Cummings 58), L Crosbie, H Watson (R Darge 63), M Fagerson.  

Romania: M Simionescu; S Lama, J Tomane, F Tangimana (N Onutu 56), T Sikuea; A Conache (T Boldor 52), G Rupanu (F Bardasu 34-38, F Surugiu 61); A Savin (I Hartig 50), R Irimescu (C Burtila 56), G Gajion, A Motoc, ( M Iftimiciuc, 61) S Iancu; F Rosu, D Ser, C Chirica (D Stratila 61).

Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)