THE familiar chill of Edinburgh was always more likely to favour the Scots, and that was confirmed when Romania were caught cold by a try after only two minutes.

Scotland's Australian-born and bred five-eighth Dan Parks hoisted the ball into the Romanian 22 and it was then batted back to Chris Paterson, who was running a clever diagonal line from the left wing. Paterson slid a grubber kick to the try line and dived over after Romanian five-eighth Ionut Dimofte slipped at the critical moment.

The second score, 15 minutes later, was a straightforward catch-and-drive lineout move, from which breakaway Ally Hogg finally emerged from the mass of bodies that toppled over the line with a try to his name. Paterson added his second cool conversion, and the overall assurance of the Scots was highlighted by some of the reckless decision-making of their opponents.

It was a wonder then why it took Scotland so long to increase their lead. Fullback Rory Lamont finally got his side's third try in the 36th minute after capitalising on a crashing run by inside-centre Rob Dewey and slick exchanges across the midfield by halfback Mike Blair and Parks.

The victory will put the Scots in good heart for the match against tournament favourites New Zealand at Murrayfield on Sunday. They can also look forward to the game that should determine who finishes runner-up in the group, against Italy at St-Etienne the following week.

Romania captain Sorin Socol, whose side has lost to both teams, said the Scots had the edge. "Scotland are a much more complete side," said Socol, whose side ran Italy close in their 24-18 loss in their opening match.

"I was surprised to see how strong they were in contact. We knew they had a number of key players like the Lamont brothers, but against us it was an all-round performance from the Scots."

Scotland coach Frank Hadden said his team had shown improvement, but he still had concerns after watching his forward pack struggle at times against the Romanians. "The scrummaging is something we will have to address after we've looked at the tape," he said.

Telegraph, London; Reuters