The Tigers star was recalled to the squad after Girvan Dempsey picked up an injury to his left hip in training on Thursday. The Leinster full-back has failed to recover sufficiently and has been ruled out of the match.
Skipper Brian O`Driscoll did come through a fitness test on his calf and has been cleared to lead the Ireland team.
Murphy`s Leicester colleague James Hamilton is named on the Scotland bench.
Ireland team (v Scotland, Croke Park, Dublin, Saturday 5pm):
15 Geordan Murphy (Leicester Tigers)
14 Tommy Bowe (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster)
13 Brian O`Driscoll (UCD/Leinster, captain)
12 Andrew Trimble (Ballymena/Ulster)
11 Robert Kearney (UCD/Leinster)
10 Ronan O`Gara (Cork Constitution/Munster)
9 Eoin Reddan (London Wasps)
1 Marcus Horan (Shannon/Munster)
2 Bernard Jackman (Clontarf/Leinster)
3 John Hayes (Bruff/Munster)
4 Donncha O`Callaghan (Cork Constitution/Munster)
5 Mick O`Driscoll (Cork Constitution/Munster)
6 Denis Leamy (Cork Constitution/Munster)
7 David Wallace (Garryowen/Munster)
8 Jamie Heaslip (Clontarf/Leinster)
Replacements
16 Rory Best (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster)
17 Tony Buckley (Shannon/Munster)
18 Paul O`Connell (Young Munster/Munster)
19 Simon Easterby (Llanelli Scarlets)
20 Peter Stringer (Shannon/Munster)
21 Paddy Wallace (Ballymena/Ulster)
22 Shane Horgan (Boyne/Leinster)
