Hadden was thrilled to see Jason White and Mike Blair back in action on Tuesday night but is now focused on the first of Scotlands two World Cup warm-up games, which takes place on August 11.

Their other match is against South Africa a fortnight later, with both being played in Edinburgh.

White had been out of action since last November, when he ruptured the cruciate ligament in his right knee playing for Scotland against Romania, meanwhile a shoulder injury had kept Mike Blair on the sidelines since January.

But both players looked impressively sharp when they took to the field in an internal 10-a-side tournament in St Andrews.

Im delighted to see them come through that, said Hadden. Obviously it was at the back of all our minds that they were vulnerable to injury because they had been out for so long, but I think they both showed that they are in fine fettle.

Turning his attention to the clash with Ireland, Hadden added: As of Friday all our focus is going to be on playing Ireland and it is a match we desperately need our supporters to be behind us for.

What we need to do is generate a bit of momentum going into the World Cup  and what better way of doing that than knocking off one of the big favourites for the tournament.

For Hadden there is a distinct danger that the return of White and Blair will be offset by injuries last night to Scott Lawson and Sean Lamont. Lawson rolled his ankle, while Lamont hurt his knee.

They look as if theyll have to be re-assessed over the next couple of days, said Hadden.

A few of the other guys picked up bumps and bruises too, but those were just the sort of knocks you expect in these sorts of situations.