Scotland – R. Lamont, Jones, de Luca, S. Lamont, Evans, Parks, Cusiter; Jacobsen, Ford (c), Murray, Gray, Hamilton, Strokosch, Rennie, Denton.

England – Foden, Ashton, Barritt, Farrell, Strettle, Hodgson, Youngs; Corbisero, Hartley, Cole, Botha, Palmer, Croft, Robshaw (c), Dowson.

England’s lacklustre World Cup performance has convinced interim coach Stuart Lancaster to venture further afield in search of talent. He’ll hands eight players their Test debut this evening.

Sounds like he’s dreaming of a New England (effortless segue)…

Ah, George Hamilton is back! Hurrah!

Unfortunately, he’s brought Frankie Sheahan with him.

Lancaster’s new England line-up includes David Strettle, who – if memory serves (and it may not) – took less than five minutes to earn an elbow in the face from big Shane Horgan when he took to the field during England’s thrashing at Croker in 2007.

A lofted kick to the left touchline ushers in a frenzied period of play, with possession and momentum switching wildly between the two sides. It’s only calmed by George Clancy’s decision to award England their first penalty of the game.

Though the kick is probably within range, Robshaw opts for a scrum, which England use as a launchpad for their first foray into Scottish territory. Clumsy defence of the ball, however, allows the Scottish pack to drive over the top. Seizing on the turnover, Dan Parks punts a clearance downfield.

Play grinds to a halt when Tom Palmer goes down with that most dreaded of schoolboy injuries – the dead leg! After kneeling, Tebow-style for a few seconds, the touch of a magic ice-pack sets him on his way.

Cusiter feeds a Scottish scrum, allowing Denton – who is reminiscent of a young Dolph Lundgren – to collect the ball and sling a pass towards the right wing. Seconds later, Scottish indiscipline hands bright young thing Owen Farrell his first attempt on goal…

… which sails wide of the left post.

At least young Farrell – who was booed loudly throughout the build-up to that first penalty – is getting some love on Twitter…

Handbags in midfield leave Chris Robshaw wandering around with an exposed… shoulder.

Comfortably the most exciting development of the game so far.

It’s always amusing watching props, with their meaty, oversized hands, try to replace contact lenses… Ewan Murray requires the assistance of at least one member of the Scottish coaching staff before rejoining the fray.

An endless sequence of scrums in midfield. George Clancy is barking orders, Dylan Hartley is screaming something about “Tuesdays, boys! Tuesdays!”, but nothing is happening…

… suddenly, Rory Lamont falters under the high ball, allowing Owen Farrell to gather and launch an angled run behind the Scottish line. He’s soon brought to ground, but shenanigans at the resulting ruck gift England a penalty directly in front of the posts.

The boos reign down from all corners of Murrayfield, but Farrell – whose father looks on from the coaching booth – claims the first points of his international career.

Scotland 0-3 England

Roused from their plodding early rhythm, Scotland take the ball through several phases before rolling to a halt in front of the English posts. Persistent infringement from the English pack  allows Dan Parks to level the score.

Scotland 3-3 England

A series of handling errors in defence and the sheer physicality of the Scottish challenge at the breakdown has imbued the entire English line with a sense of confusion and uncertainty…

A defensive scrum offers England the perfect opportunity to clear the ball downfield, but rather than dispatch a kick, Youngs tosses a pass to Chris Ashton. The wing, never one to recognise his own fallibility, tries to sidestep Lee Jones, but is immediately dragged to ground and penalised for holding on.

Parks converts the penalty with ease.

Scotland 6-3 England

A mis-timed engagement at yet another midfield scrum allows England to punt a penalty down the left touchline. Gray rises to claim the resulting lineout, however, and sends Scotland charging through the phases.

Realising they won’t manufacture a clean line-break in the remaining seconds of the half, the Scots set about creating the perfect angle for a drop at goal. George Clancy spots a knock-on (that actually came of the foot of an English defender), though, and brings a dull, grubby half of rugby to a close.

Half-time: Scotland 6-3 England

Brent Pope: “What are Scotland doing paying all this money to coaches… every time the ball passes Dan Parks, it’s thrown back into another forward. *sigh*”

George Hook: “They’re doing what they’ve done throughout Robinson’s tenure. They’re hoping that the other team will lose the game at some point; it’s how bad teams play rugby.”

FACTOID:

Hodgson gets us back underway with a lofted kick to the right touchline. The ball’s collected by Denton and the big No8 is brought to ground inside the Scottish 22. Collecting the ball at the base of the ruck, Cusiter spins it wide to Parks, but Hodgson, alert to his opposite number’s intention, charges forward to smother the clearance and palm the loose ball into the turf immediately beyond the tryline.

George Clancy sends the decision upstairs, but England are awarded the game’s first try. Farrell makes no mistake with the conversion.

Scotland 6-10 England

Mindful of their need to threaten the English line with greater regularity, Scotland – largely through the ingenuity of Cusiter and Parks – are beginning to cobble together longer, more dynamic spells in possession.

This renewed invention carries it’s own risks, of course, and it isn’t long before Ashton breaks clear on the left wing. Seconds later, Hodgson lofts a cross-field kick to the right wing and into the arms of David Strettle. Fortunately for Scotland, the wing is immediately penalised for holding on.

After rising all of 11 feet to claim a Scottish lineout, Richie Gray makes an impact at ground level, slipping two tackles before blazing into the English 22. He offloads over his left shoulder, but his teammate’s hesitation sends the ball spinning forward for a knock-on.

Growing more and more confident in their ability to challenge this English defence, Scotland launch another running attack.

After the hands of Gray and Denton yielding yards and precious momentum, the ball falls to Lee Jones, who launches a speculative pitch towards the posts. Chris Ashton, the last line of cover, punts the ball  to touch.

Scotland secure the resulting lineout, but soon find themselves overrun at the breakdown. Capitalising on some fine work by Corbisero, Youngs fires a box-kick downfield.

It’s immediately used as a platform for a Scottish counterattack, however, with Laidlaw chipping another ball over the English defence. Youngs manages to interpose himself between the replacement fly-half and the ball, but as they crash over the try-line, Laidlaw appears to reach beyond the scrum-half and ground the ball.

Successive replays send Murrayfield into a frenzy of anticipation, but the TMO denies Scotland a five-point return.

If only…

Changes: Kellock, Barclay, Laidlaw and Blair have replaced Strokosch, Hamilton, Parks and Cusiter.

Owen Farrell – again receiving a surprising number of boos – sends a long-range penalty attempt spinning goalwards. It drops a mere metre short of posts.

Changes: Dickson, Turner-Hall, Parling, Stevens and Morgan replace Youngs, Hodgson, Palmer, Corbisiero and Dowson

Some slack coverage from Scotland at the breakdown allows the English pack to isolate Kellock. Knowing he can’t afford to cede possession easily, the replacement second-row waits a second too long for reinforcements to arrive. George Clancy doesn’t hesitate in awarding a penalty.

Scarcely twenty metres from the Scottish goal, Farrell bisects the posts to claim what might prove the game’s decisive score.

Scotland 6-13 England

David “Jesus Christ!” Denton is named the official RBS 6 Nations Man of the Match.

Scotland go in search of a game-winning try, probing the English defence across the field…

Poor hands fail them on three occasions before George Clancy, in a rare moment of generosity, offers Andy Robinson’s men a final penalty. With a tap-and-go the only option, they take the ball through severalfrenetic phases before a coordinated effort from the English pack ushers the ball into touch.

Full-time: Scotland 6-13 England

Reader Neil Kettles wasn’t thrilled by George Clancy’s performance:

“Scotland were beaten by themselves and the most blatantly biased referee I’ve ever seen! If that man gets another international match, I for one won’t watch!!”

But, in truth, Scotland can hardly claim to have been short-changed. Terminally unimaginative in the first half, they only lifted their tempo after conceding a lazy try after the restart. Even then, though Andy Robinson’s histrionics in the coaching booth suggested otherwise, their play lacked any sort of coordination or higher purpose.

England on the other hand will be relieved to have vindicated Stuart Lancaster’s wildly experimental selection. It wasn’t pretty, but it was hearteningly ruthless. The performance of 20-year-old Owen Farrell, who replaced Hodgson at fly-half before converting the game-winning penalty, was particularly heartening.