Tragedy as Murphy robbed of chance to star as wizard of Oz

Scotland 10 Ireland 29

But Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan's instant reaction to the broken leg that will keep Geordan Murphy out of the World Cup, and away from the game for up to six months, did seem apposite in the context of Saturday's final warm-up match against Scotland at Murrayfield.

The Leicester full-back was a shoo-in for O'Sullivan's squad, named yesterday and many good judges, including the Irish coach himself, considered the hard grounds of Sydney and Canberra arenas fitting for one of the most exciting talents in the world.

"The World Cup stage was made for him and I really believed he was going to be a star," said a grim O'Sullivan later. "His speed, agility and distribution are all world-class and I am so sad for him. World Cups only come round every four years and it would have been the peak of his career. It just shows how cruel professional sport can be."

Murphy's dream ended on 19 minutes under an innocuous tackle in sun-baked Edinburgh and as the paramedics gathered round and the Irish players distanced themselves from the scene, it was clear that something awful had intruded on an otherwise unremarkable afternoon.

Murphy was detained in hospital overnight in Edinburgh with a compound fracture to the left tibia and returned to Leicester yesterday where he will undergo treatment and rehabilitation with his club.

The dreadful incident overshadowed what was a worthily competent performance by Ireland, the team shrugging off the loss of their full-back to run in four tries past a game, but outgunned, Scottish side.

Bath centre Kevin Maggs, wings Denis Hickie and Anthony Horgan and flanker David Wallace all crossed while Munster stand-off Ronan O'Gara, in his first game since June, made a strong case for ousting David Humphreys from the first-choice No 10 jersey with three conversions and a penalty, mixed with some shrewd tactical kicking.

Other setbacks had ravaged O'Sullivan's preparations, most notably the loss of tight-head John Hayes before the match and it was only in the scrum where Scotland could claim some measure of parity.

Even Reggie Corrigan would admit he is a makeweight No 3 and he struggled from the start. But both Wallace and Victor Costello enjoyed fine games, although not ultimately fine enough to earn Munster's Lions flanker a place in the Australia squad. Costello did his great beast routine to massive effect, constantly making it over the gain-line and the second row partnership of Malcolm O'Kelly and Paul O'Connell looks set in stone now. The return of Hayes to the right-hand side of the scrum and Corrigan's switch to his more familiar position of loose-head should soothe Irish concerns about the front-row ahead of the meetings with Australia and Argentina.

Full marks, too, to the Irish defence which held under an early onslaught from the home side and only finally cracked in the final minutes when the match was won. By the time Scotland's replacement wing Simon Webster went over, O'Sullivan had traded in seven starters for substitutes and was already rehearsing his post-match speech.

Nonetheless, it says much about Ireland's defensive niggardliness these days that captain Keith Wood should later regard the Scottish try as "an annoying blot on our performance."

Wood added: "We had worked very hard in defence throughout and we are professional enough now to regard any try against us as a blemish. But all in all we can be happy with this showing, Geordan's terrible injury apart."

Hickie's try, when he ran round Webster into the corner with gleeful ease although it took a consultation with the video referee to confirm that he had grounded the ball before clattering into the corner flag took the Leinster wing's international tally to 20 and the back line on display on Saturday looks the likeliest first-choice in Australia, with one of the Horgans, Shane or Anthony, on the right wing.

The great man in the No 13 jersey had a quiet game, although in typical fashion Brian O'Driscoll did fashion two of the tries. Maggs was Maggs fiercely competitive, biting in the tackle and he also took his first-half try well, ploughing through two tackles to go in under the posts.

Scotland, as so often, started brightly but their enterprise was seldom matched by their finishing. Wing Chris Paterson missed two early penalties while O'Gara's first attempt also looked encrusted in the rust of three months' idleness.

But Paterson did put the home side ahead on 22 minutes following Murphy's injury and prolonged treatment. Ireland had their first points on the board with a 32nd minute O'Gara penalty, and four minutes later they took a lead they were never to lose. O'Gara kicked a penalty to the corner and although the initial Irish drive was halted, scrum-half Peter Stringer picked out Maggs, who muscled his way over through the tackles of Gordon Ross and Andrew Mower. O'Gara converted and although referee Nigel Whitehouse handed Ireland a lucky break when he refused to consult the video referee after Mower had been driven over for a clear home try, Ireland's 10-3 half-time lead was well merited.

Twelve minutes into the second period Ireland took total control as Wood and O'Gara made enough space for Hickie on the outside and O'Gara's touchline conversion took the lead to 14 points.

O'Driscoll's gather from an O'Gara garryowen and swift transfer to Horgan gave the Munster wing the chance to hand off the hapless Webster and cross for his first international try and it was O'Driscoll's break and popped pass that gave Wallace his touchdown with 10 minutes remaining. Webster finally cracked the visiting defence with a minute left, but by then the match was over and all thoughts were turning to Geordan Murphy, and his appalling misfortune.

As O'Sullivan mournfully put it as he contemplated both the loss of Murphy and centre Rob Henderson, injured in the Munster-Leinster Celtic League tie on Friday night: "Up until yesterday things have been looking pretty good for us in terms of injuries. I thought it was too good to be true."

IRELAND: G Murphy, A Horgan, B O'Driscoll, K Maggs, D Hickie, R O'Gara, P Stringer, M Horan, K Wood, R Corrigan, M O'Kelly, P O'Connell, D Wallace, E Miller, V Costello.

Replacements: G Dempsey for Murphy (23 mins); S Easterby for Costello (52-56 mins); K Dawson for Miller (68 mins), G Easterby for Stringer (75 mins), D Humphries for O'Driscoll (do.), S Best for Corrigan (do.), E Easterby for O'Connell (do.), S Byrne for Wood (76 mins).

SCOTLAND: G Metcalfe, C Paterson, A Craig, A Henderson, K Logan, G Ross, M Blair, A Jacobsen, G Bulloch, G McIlwham, S Grimes, N Hines, R Beattie, S Taylor, A Mower.

Replacements: S Webster for Metcalfe (40 mins) I Fullarton for Grimes (55-65 mins), M Proudfoot for McIlwham (62 mins), J McLaren for Henderson (62 mins), J Petrie for Beattie (62 mins), R Russell for Bulloch (67 mins).

Referee: Nigel Whitehouse (Wales).