Horgan was immediatley withdrawn from the Irish bench for the fixture as a precaution and Eddie O'Sullivan admitted in his post-match press conference that he was worried about the winger's condition.

"We picked up a few bumps and bruises during the game but it's kind of ironic that our biggest injury concern happened before the match, " said the coach. "Shane twisted his knee in the warm-up and we immediatley brought in Andrew Trimble to take his place on the bench. There's no point in worrying about it too much until he undergoes a scan back in Dublin but it is a concern right now."

Horgan remained in the stadium during the match but his injury was assessed by the Irish medical team before the team flew back to Edinburgh last night. The winger will undergo a further scan this morning but his injury puts O'Sullivan under extreme pressure before he names his 30-man World Cup party at 11.00 this morning.

The news emerged after Scotland beat Ireland for the first time in six years at a wet Murrayfield yesterday. Only an eight-minute Irish cameo after the interval, during which Isaac Boss and Andrew Trimble crossed for tries, stopped it from being embarrassing for Eddie O'Sullivan's side but the coach's two consolations this morning will be that this was merely a friendly and that this was just his secondstring side on view. The real stuff starts in a month.

However, if we can separate the individual from the collective for a moment O'Sullivan will have learned much, not just of who to bring to France in his 30-man party, but also who to deploy out there on the front-line. All things being equal on yesterday's evidence, it would appear that Brian Carney, Alan Quinlan and Jamie Heaslip will take the three remaining spots in Ireland's World Cup party, although Stephen Ferris is just a shade behind the Leinster number eight. All this could change a little if the injuries picked up by Gavin Duffy during the game, and Horgan beforehand, prove to be more serious than initially feared.

As regards the certainties who played yesterday, there was much for the coach to mull over. Geordan Murphy, for one, enjoyed a confident game at full-back, four years on from when a Murrayfield afternoon ruined his 2003 World Cup dreams. Jerry Flannery was wonderfully abrasive around the park, while Paddy Wallace showed in fits and bursts that he can be a real attacking threat at out-half if given licence to run the ball. Outside the Ulster out-half, Trimble, a replacement for the injured Duffy, also reinforced the belief that he's a better option than Horgan at first-centre should anything happen to Gordon D'Arcy during the World Cup.

O'Sullivan will be more worried about his back-up forwards than his replacement backs this morning considering the pummelling they got in the first period. There were three minutes on the clock when Ali Hogg sneaked over for Scotland, but even at this early juncture you could see that Ireland's understrength pack were being targeted by their opponents.

Wallace offered his side some respite with a penalty, but following some great continuity from a cluster of Scottish forwards and backs, the home side earned a scrum five-yards from the Irish line.

Instead of having a go around the fringes, they changed tack and swung the ball wide to centre Andrew Henderson.

The Scottish centre bounded through a poor tackle from Brian O'Driscoll and was awarded the try.

Before the interval, Murphy landed Ireland's second penalty but in the third minute of first-half injury, prop Ewan Murray crashed over for his side's third try. Six minutes after the break, Henderson crossed for his second try after some fine work by Mike Blair but Isaac Boss's 48th minute try, created by a scything Tommy Bowe run, stopped the game edging out of Ireland's reach. Eight minutes later they were right back in it after some fine scrapping on the deck from Ferris and Neil Best allowed Isaac Boss to whip the ball out to his backs. Wallace released Murphy who releasedTrimble for a simple finish wide left. Wallace converted the second of those tries and with his 60th minute penalty from near halfway, Ireland were suddenly just three points adrift.

That was, though, as good as it got for the visitors. In the 77th minute, Dan Parks barged past Ronan O'Gara and offloaded for Henderson to cross for his third try right under the Irish posts and with the replacement out-half 's successful conversion, Scotland were home, if not dry.

SCORING SEQUENCE

3 mins Hogg try, Paterson con 7-0 10 minsWallace pen 7-3 28 mins Henderson try, Paterson con 14-3 33 mins Murphy pen 14-6 40+3 mins Murray try 19-6 46 mins Henderson try 24-6 48 mins Boss try, Wallace con 24-13 56 mins Trimble try 24-18 60 minsWallace pen 24-21 77 mins Henderson try, Parks con 31-21