England rugby’s new era began with a scrappy first Six Nations win at Murrayfield in eight years as Scotland’s familiar failings contributed to their downfall.
The visitors won 13-6 with five-eighth Charlie Hodgson scoring the only try of the game when he charged-down a kick from Scotland opposite Dan Parks who was attempting a clearance deep in his own territory at the start of the second half.
Debutant centre Owen Farrell slotted eight points for England while Parks landed two penalties for the Scots who led 6-3 at halftime.
It was England’s first win in Edinburgh since 2004.
England interim coach Stuart Lancaster made 10 changes to the side that fell to France in the World Cup quarter-finals and gave seven players their Test debuts in front of a capacity Murrayfield crowd.
They included Farrell, fellow Saracens centre Brad Barritt, and Northampton No.8 Phil Dowson all starting, while Jordan Turner-Hall, Geoff Parling, Ben Morgan and Rob Dickson came off the bench.
“We really want to fight for each other and we showed that out there today. We can still get better and better as the weeks go on,” said Farrell.
Former Scotland youth international Lancaster, was delighted by his fledgling team’s resilience.
“It is what teams are built on, spirit, and they showed a tremendous amount of spirit and courage to play for each other and play for England,” he said.
“It’s all about getting the first win and we need to back it up now.”
For Scotland it was an all too depressingly familiar story as they failed to score a try for the fourth successive Test.
They had the man-of-the-match in No.8 David Denton but a series of handling errors and knock-ons cost them dearly.
Scotland did come close to a try in the 63rd minute when Greig Laidlaw, on for Parks, chipped over the defence and was involved in a race for the ball with Ben Youngs, only for Welsh television match official Nigel Whitehouse to rule the England scrum-half had got to the ball first.
But they also butchered a two-on-one chance when flanker Ross Rennie delayed his pass to replacement scrum-half Mike Blair and was tackled by England full-back Ben Foden.
“It seems a little bit like deja vu,” said Robinson, a former England flanker and coach.
“We’ve been here before and obviously we’re all bitterly disappointed about what’s happened,” he added, ahead of a match away to Wales, who complete the tournament’s opening weekend against Ireland in Dublin on Sunday.
This result left Robinson still searching for his first win over England in four attempts as Scotland boss following three defeats and a draw.
“Winning and losing Test matches is all about inches and those small margins,” he said. “We’ve got to be able to take those chances.”
England play Italy at Stadio Olimpico next week.
