Match 16 -- Scotland v. Romania

Saturday, 30 September 2023

My 16th match, and the 30th of the tournament, was Scotland v. Romania in Lille. This is my first time seeing each of these teams. 

Outside the stadium

View from my seat

With Scotland being one of the top five teams in the world, and Romania being more like 20th, this wasn't expected to be a close match.

This is the first time I could see artifacts of the soccer field's lines. Maybe they had a soccer match here between rugby matches.

The remnants of the soccer field's goal line and corner marking

It's also the first time I've seen a coach/trainer get up on a ladder to help the hooker practice his lineout throws.

The hooker throwing to a coach on a ladder

Scotland jumped out to an early lead. Romania earning three yellow cards late in the first half didn't help their cause. Romania was down a man from the 29th minute to the 47th. And for about eight minutes of that, they were down two. Scotland led 42-0 at the half.

This is the also the first time I've seen security personnel on the field at halftime. Perhaps they were expecting trespassers.

Security at halftime

The second half was much the same. In fact, score-wise it was exactly the same. Final score: 84-0.

I walked with a bagpiper back to the Metro. Well, I walked anywhere from 50 meters behind him to 100 meters ahead of him. But I could still hear him just the same. 😉

Getting on the Metro went as fast as it ever has. Lille has their act together.

But then ... the Metro train stopped twice unexpectedly between the Fives and Coulier stations. The first time was for about two minutes, but most of the lights went out. Then we moved again for a minute or so. The second time it stopped was for about 15 minutes, and all the lights stayed on. They made an announcement over the PA but I couldn't make out enough words to know what was going on. All in all, I still made it back to the hotel 65 minutes after the match ended.

...doug