England withstood all that Scotland had to throw at them to win 13-6 at Murrayfield on Saturday, as the defending Six Nations Champions got their 2012 campaign off to a victorious start.

Charlie Hodgson's try at the very start of the second half, which came after he charged down Dan Parks' kick, was the decisive score and the only try in a close game which Scotland had the better of in terms of both possession and territory.

The first half was a somewhat scrappy affair with plenty of broken play and loose kicks meaning that neither side was able to really establish a regular pattern.

Scotland just about enjoyed the better of the opening 40 minutes and came closest to their opponents' try-line, although any threat of crossing remained minimal on the part of both teams.

It took 23 minutes for the first points of the game to be registered when England debutant Owen Farrell - one of three players handed their first cap by coach Stuart Lancaster - slotted over a penalty, but shortly afterwards some applied pressure from Scotland allowed Parks a penalty attempt which he was successful with to level the score.

Scotland's fly-half made Chris Ashton pay for holding onto the ball after being tackled as he put over another penalty seven minutes before half time, and the hosts went into the interval with a slender lead having shown the slightly more adventurous approach.

The second half was a far livelier affair, and the tone was set immediately after England kicked off. Parks' kick was charged by Hodgson, who dived on the ball to give England the lead. Farrell converted to extend the visitors' lead to a slim four points.

Scotland's number eight David Denton impressed for the duration and was the leading charge in the majority of his team's attacks, but some poor handling and decision making from his team-mates meant that nothing came of Scotland's persistent pushes.

David Strettle nearly went over in a rare attack when he collected a cross-field kick from Hodgson, but it was Scotland who went even closer when Greig Laidlaw and Ben Youngs both got to the replacement's grubber kick at the same time. After an agonising wait the video referee deemed that it was not a try.

Scotland could have scored again when Ross Rennie broke down the middle, but he was unable to find an offload which would have sent either Mike Blair or Laidlaw straight through.

With five minutes to go Farrell put the game beyond the hosts with a penalty, which marked the final score as 13-6 and gave England their first win at Murrayfield since 2004.

Eurosport