Scotland 10 Ireland 29
Ireland's World Cup hopes were dealt a shattering blow at Murrayfield this afternoon as inspirational full-back Geordan Murphy was stretchered off with a broken leg.
The Leicester flyer was expected to be one of the key figures in Eddie O'Sullivan's plans for next month's tournament but will play no part in the competition at all.
Murphy was in obvious agony as soon as he hit the deck after an innocuous-looking tackle from diminutive scrum-half Mike Blair midway through the first-half.
After lengthy treatment he was stretchered from the field and taken straight to hospital - and Ireland's worst fears were realised when a compound fracture was confirmed.
"It's tragic for Geordan," O'Sullivan said. "I thought he was in fantastic form and I think he would have been one of the stars of the World Cup.
"His class, his pace and his agility would have shown through on the hard grounds of Australia. This is a guy in peak form suffering a serious injury like this. It shows how cruel a collision sport can be."
O'Sullivan also confirmed that Rob Henderson would miss the World Cup after he tore a bicep duringMunster's 15-8 victory over Leinster in the Celtic League last night.
Tries from Kevin Maggs, wing duo Denis Hickie and Anthony Horgan, plus a David Wallace late effort leave Ireland in good heart for a difficult World Cup campaign which has pitched them in the same group as hosts Australia and improving Argentina, even if Murphy will take a huge amount of replacing.
For Scotland, the outlook is not so rosy, even though it should only take victory in their final group game against Fiji in Sydney for them to advance into the last eight as anticipated.
It was certainly a disappointing way for Ian McGeechan to end his final Murrayfield international as Scotland coach.
The wily maestro takes over as director of rugby from Jim Telfer after the World Cup, when his old Lions coaching colleague will stand down from all official duties.
It would have been fitting if the pair, who have done so much to advance their country's rugby cause over the past 30 years, were to bow out on a high note.
But last week's dismal defeat in Wales did not offer much hope of that and although the home side enjoyed a decent spell of first-half pressure, they failed to turn their superiority into points and were well beaten by the end.
If Chris Paterson had been wearing his kicking boots, the home side would have been in front long before they eventually were - and in Blair and veteran winger Kenny Logan the home side had two of the outstanding backs on show.
Given their wholehearted display, it must have been something of a blow to McGeechan that his team were behind at the interval, although, given the apparent seriousness of Murphy's injury, opposite number O'Sullivan would have been in no mood to celebrate.
Like Paterson, Ronan O'Gara had missed his first penalty attempt, but the fly-half, looking to oust David Humphreys from O'Sullivan's first choice side, found his range at the second time of asking, after Blair had performed miracles in defence to prevent prop Marcus Horan plunging over.
Nathan Hines was sin-binned for the offence which offered O'Gara his penalty chance and the Australian-born lock was just making his way back onto the field when Eric Miller was dispatched for an enforced 10-minute break after he too had fallen foul of referee Nigel Whitehouse.
In between those two offences, Kevin Maggs grabbed the first try, holding off Gordon Ross and Andrew Mower to scramble over from close range.
Scotland were not so lucky when stand-in skipper Gordon Bulloch thought he had touched down in stoppage time during the frenzied attack which followed Miller's departure.
Although TV replays appeared to indicate he had got firm pressure on the ball as he burrowed his way through a pile of bodies, Whitehouse decided otherwise and offered Ireland the get-out of a scrum.
Given he had the option of asking video referee Roy Maybank for his version, Whitehouse's decision seemed odd, especially as the Welshman had no hesitation in referring Denis Hickie's try upstairs after the winger had touched down right in the corner.
Debutant Simon Webster was the man held off for that try and the Edinburgh-winger, introduced at the break for Glenn Metcalfe, was the unlucky man again on the hour after Brian O'Driscoll had collected a steepling O'Gara kick from under Logan's nose, then handed on to Anthony Horgan, whose blistering burst for the line was not going to be interrupted.
Webster did end the game on a positive note when he crashed over for a consolation score but, for vastly differing reasons, neither coach will have left the stadium in contended mood as the clock ticks down to the biggest challenge of all.