Eddie Jones picked out England's set-piece play as the deciding factor in their 15-9 RBS 6 Nations victory over Scotland.

In Jones' first game in charge since replacing Stuart Lancaster, England got their Six Nations challenge up and running with a hard-fought win at Murrayfield that also helped ease the memory of their miserable World Cup campaign.

Tries from George Kruis and Jack Nowell as well as five points from the boot of Owen Farrell saw England to victory over Scotland, whose response came through three Greig Laidlaw penalties.

Jones said of England's set-piece play: "It won us the game in the end. Our line-out was very good in the second half and our scrum really came to life." 

He added to BBC Sport: "It was always going to be a difficult game, we knew that. We had two weeks together, we were virtually a new team doing new things and I'm really pleased with our application in the second half. Our defence was outstanding and there were some really good individual performances."

© David Rogers/Getty Images

Jones singled out the displays of new captain Dylan Hartley, Dan Cole and James Haskell for praise, as well as that of man of the match Billy Vunipola.

"Yeah he's pretty handy, Billy," added Jones. "He's not bad is he? He played really well and his work-rate was fantastic, good carries, good defence."

Regarding his side's overall performance, Jones said: "In all honesty I always thought we were going to win the game, the only way we weren't going to win the game was if we did something silly.

"We wanted to move the ball more, we were practising that, we weren't able to do that and had to play a different way, and that's pragmatic football."

Saracens forward Vunipola, from what he has seen so far, has likewise been impressed by the new England coach.

Billy Vunipola© David Rogers/Getty Images

"He's a great guy. I say this, we're only two weeks in. But I hope we keep on the good side of him, because he's funny and very personable and I really like him," said Vunipola. 

Hartley said of claiming a win in his first match as England captain: "Amazing. Good start for us. Wasn't the prettiest but it was physical and the result's the thing that mattered today for us, so we're happy to get that one out of the way."

Scotland coach Vern Cotter felt his side let slip a rare chance of beating England but says they will look to put the loss behind them as quickly as possible.

"They're very disappointed players," he said. "We created opportunities, we didn't finish them off. But there's a lot more to come from the team I think.

"They are disappointed with the way they let those opportunities pass by through lost balls and bits and pieces, but they'll be quickly identified and we'll put the frustrations behind us.

"We can't do much about this one but we'll certainly look to the next one. "We can do better than that, we know we can. That game was there to be won."