Scotland 10 Ireland 29A fifth successive win to take into the World Cup, further positive information for Eddie O'Sullivan to ponder late into Saturday night, and the first back-to-back wins over Scotland at Murrayfield since 1971. But was it worth it?
There's something about this place. Even when winning, Ireland are still losing. Ireland have three world-class gamebreakers-cum-finishers among their backs. Now, for this World Cup they'll have two in light of Geordan Murphy breaking his leg.
Two years ago and almost to the same 23rd minute, Murphy tore a hamstring, which effectively delayed for almost a year and a half his emergence as a cornerstone of the Irish team.
Ironically, his breakthrough came at Murrayfield last February as a try-scoring, 26th-minute replacement, but only after Shane Horgan sustained a torn hamstring, and he's only played half a club game since.
You can't wrap players in cotton wool for a month or two before a World Cup. Mick Doyle and co tried that in 1987 and they were beaten in their opening match by Wales and thereafter consigned to a quarter-final defeat to the hosts Australia.
Ironically, had Nigel Williams heard the call from one of his linesmen (weren't they hooked up?) for Ronan O'Gara's tackle off the ball on Gordon Ross, the ensuing, futile breakaway might never have happened.
The management kept the news from the rest of the squad until after the game, informing them when they returned to the dressing-room, which was immediately "like a morgue". Accompanied by team doctor Gary O'Driscoll, Murphy was taken to an Edinburgh hospital with a compound fracture of his tibia, had a steel plate inserted on Saturday night and will be detained for five days. Murphy was "devastated" yesterday morning when the full reality of what happened had dawned on him. He will now be sidelined for up to six months.
"I think this World Cup was tailor made for Geordan Murphy," said O'Sullivan. "His speed, agility, his football skills would have thrived on the hard ground of Australia and he could have been one of the stars of the tournament."
Beyond that, O'Sullivan wasn't exactly doing whoops about a game and performance he didn't think was particularly good. The defensive line was breached a few times, especially around the fringes, although Ireland's scrambling defence limited the damage until Simon Webster's consolation try, by which stage Ireland's bench had all been employed and David Humphreys was at outside centre.
In the absence of John Hayes and Emmet Byrne, and given the Scots were missing their top three props, the scrums again undermined the notion Reggie Corrigan is a tight-head.
"There's been times in games, even on the islands (Tonga and Samoa) when we've had bad starts or bad periods in the game and the game was just about to slip away, but people didn't panic. We kept control of the game, kept our composure, and went back and scored. There'll be times in the World Cup when we'll be on the mat, and to have come through is very positive psychologically," O'Sullivan said.
Scotland had what seemed a legitimate try overruled to make it 10-10 before the break, but even so you sensed they didn't believe they could win this one. And their attempts at catch-up even reduced some of their own supporters to laughter.
This was Ireland's fourth win in five meetings over their one-time nemesis, and 13 of the 17 tries have been scored by the backs. In any event, no amount of canny coaching, organisation and spirit can compensate for sheer pace and creativity.
Even the one try dotted down by a member of the grunt and grind club up front was after inventive counterattacking play by Peter Stringer, Girvan Dempsey, Denis Hickie and Brian O'Driscoll especially. His line off Hickie's reverse pass and offload off the deck enabled an auxiliary back, David Wallace, to run in Ireland's fourth try.
Kevin Maggs had taken an excellent, muscular line onto a well-timed flat pass from Ronan O'Gara (overcoming a rusty start with typical mental strength), and Hickie had scored a classic winger's try in the corner outside Simon Webster. O'Driscoll had also been the creator-in-chief of Anthony Horgan's try with a leaping take - of O'Gara's up-and-under - and offload.
With the Scots pushing up hard, fast and sometimes offside, Ireland were cramped for space behind their gain line off set plays and didn't apply many of their own patterns. Significantly though, the last two scores were off the cuff. There aren't many on O'Driscoll's wavelength, and every time he makes a wristy show of the ball in the tackle beyond the gain line, with no support, we'll wonder if Murphy's support runs, or "trailers", would have been there. Aside from what he does off his own bat, Murphy is probably closer to that wavelength than anyone.
Scoring sequence - 23 mins: Paterson pen 3-0; 32 mins: O'Gara pen 3-3; 37 mins: Maggs try, O'Gara con 3-10; (half-time 3-10); 52 mins: Hickie try 3-15; 60 mins: Horgan try 3-22; 71 mins: Wallace try, O'Gara con 3-29; 78 mins: Webster try, Paterson con 10-29.
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 (half-time), I Fullarton for Grimes (55-65 mins), M Proudfoot for McIlwham, J Petrie for Beattie, J McLaren for Henderson (all 62 mins), R Russell.
Sinbinned: Hines (32 mins).
IRELAND: G Murphy (Leicester); A Horgan (Munster), B O'Driscoll (Leinster), K Maggs (Bath), D Hickie (Leinster); R O'Gara (Munster), P Stringer (Munster); M Horan (Munster), K Wood (Munster, Capt), R Corrigan (Leinster), M O'Kelly (Leinster), P O'Connell (Munster), D Wallace (Munster), V Costello (Leinster), E Miller (Leinster). Replacements: _ G Dempsey (Leinster) for Murphy (22 mins), S Easterby (Llanelli) for Costello (53-56 mins) and for O'Connell (76 mins), K Dawson (London Irish) for Miller (69 mins), S Best (Ulster), for Corrigan, G Easterby (Rotherham) for Stringer, D Humphreys (Ulster) for O'Driscoll (all 76 mins), S Byrne (Leinster) for Wood (78 mins).
Sinbinned: Wallace (40 mins).
Referee: N Whitehouse (Wales).
