Edinburgh: Stuart Lancaster has spent the first weeks of his temporary England tenure emphasising the importance of "culture" and "pride in the shirt" so he was delighted with a gutsy defensive display against a fired-up Scotland on Saturday.
The caretaker coach, hoping to land the job on a permanent basis, has also talked about giving his players a licence to attack but knows that international rugby is built first and foremost on defence.
"I said on Thursday I'd take a ‘dirty 6-3' win so I'm delighted," Lancaster said after his fresh-faced side did a little better by winning 13-6 and scoring the only try of the match through Charlie Hodgson to start the defence of their Six Nations title on a high.
"It's a tough place to come and win and our defence and our desire to work hard and play for the shirt was there to see.
"We talked a lot about work rate and spirit and when you've only been together for a short spell it takes time. We didn't get everything right but we got a lot of things right."
Better drilled
Lancaster started with three uncapped players and threw on another four during the second half yet England looked better drilled and disciplined than the far more experienced group who so regularly incurred the wrath of referees at last year's World Cup.
The new centre partnership of Owen Farrell and Brad Barritt provided an unbreakable barrier and, with fly-half Hodgson completing a trio of Saracens in the midfield, they clearly benefited from playing together on a weekly basis.
Number eight Phil Dowson, grasping his opportunity at the age of 30, plus replacements Geoff Parling, Ben Morgan, Lee Dickson and Jordan Turner-Hall all slotted in seamlessly while captain Chris Robshaw was calm in the heat of battle winning only his second cap. There was not too much in the way of fearless attacking play for England's fans to get excited about but as a first step after the debacle of the World Cup and the subsequent clearout it was an uplifting occasion.
"Yes it was an inexperienced unit but we always had an inner confidence in those players," said Lancaster, who took over from Martin Johnson.
"That sense of collective spirit to play for each other and to keep working was really pleasing."
While England now march on to Rome to take on Italy with a spring in their step, Scotland will travel to Cardiff to face Wales wondering if they will ever find a way to win tight games.
Coach Andy Robinson is starting to sound like a broken record with his lamentations about failing to finish off chances and games being won and lost by tiny margins but former Wales fly-half Jonathan Davies took a harsher view of the mistakes.
He said: "I have tried to give them the benefit of the doubt but they are professional players and there is just no alignment there.
"Even when Greig Laidlaw came on he played like a headless chicken."
