'Team' defines England's heroic win at Murrayfield

Pretty? Calcutta Cup matches are hardly that, with the 13-6 England win over Scotland defined by belligerence and sheer bloody-mindedness, as have most contests over the 141-year history between the nations.

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England arrived at Murrayfield with a new coach in Stuart Lancaster, whose title addendums such as ‘interim’ and ‘caretaker’ will quickly be banished to memory if he can get his team to produce more results like this where he said the team “played for each other and played for their shirts”.

To suddenly anoint the Red Rose as title favourites would be gravely pre-mature, as France, Wales and Ireland have far more weapons in their arsenals than the Thistles, but the unity shown on defence by the visitors was a more than acceptable building block for maiden outing for this new England.

It was almost as if Lancaster had made a conscious decision to only implement the most rudimentary of strategies, not wanting to clutter a team with seven new caps in the 22 with elaborate attacking plays or intricate set moves.

Perhaps as well England had done their research, and knew that Scotland’s offence is their weak point, having now failed to have crossed the line since their opening World Cup match against Romania – with the Scots final try tally from New Zealand last year the worst return for a team at a global tournament since Zimbabwe in 1991.

Frustratingly for Scotland, if a little bit of the cohesion and structure that England had on defence could have dribbled over to the hosts, then the Thistles could have kept their Murrayfield streak intact, as they were unbeaten here since 2004 against their old enemies.

Scotland showed plenty of enterprise and the final tally revealed a staggering 14 line breaks were achieved.

However not one opportunity was converted, and while these Scottish players seem to have regained the art of scoring with their provinces of Edinburgh and Glasgow, at test level it is still not functioning.

For the 12th time in 13 seasons Scotland have opened the Six Nations with a loss, and while one could argue England did little to win, their defence marshalled and acted as a co-ordinated unit.

This was in stark contrast to the Scottish attack.

If a break was made, the runner madly eyed off the try line and didn’t look for support. If link players were spotted, passes were thrown wildly without the precision needed to earn that crucial bonus that is a try in test rugby.

Lancaster said the win was defined by the attitude of the players.

"This is a very difficult place to come and win. It has been a great result for us," he said.

"We have been delighted with the attitude we showed, particularly in defence. Our discipline was very good and our desire to work hard, play for each other, play for the shirt.

"They are the things we have talked about and it was great to see them come through

"We have talked a lot about work rate, working hard for each other and fostering a spirit and it showed on the field.

"We didn't get everything right but we got a lot of things right. We are delighted to come here and get started. Overall it was that sense of collective spirit to play for each other and keep working and working.

"To get the try was very important. It gave us a foothold on game that allowed us to grow in confidence.

"Owen (Farrell) kicked the penalty at the end which was nerveless to give us that buffer but we had to work right to the end with Scotland's passion and tenacity."

Chris Robshaw, who guided England to make 142 tackles to Scotland’s 62, was proud of the way they kept their line intact, with the Thistles only scoring 20 tries in the 25 matches under Andy Robinson.

"It was a tremendous effort from all the guys," Robshaw said.

"Whenever you play away from home you don't have as much ball as you would like but everyone defended for their lives and it really showed what it means to each other, how proud we are to play for each other and for the nation."