Eddie Jones accepted the responsibility after England started the defence of their Six Nations title with a first home defeat to Scotland since 1983. England won the championship last year after losing their opening match but that was against France in Paris rather than at Twickenham, where they had been beaten only once in the Six Nations since 2012. “We were a long way off our best and as head coach I take responsibility for that,” said Jones. “Scotland played very well and they should be congratulated. We have to look forward and Italy next weekend is a great opportunity for us.” England were ring-rusty with most of their players making their first appearance in at least a month, while Scotland had benefited from a Glasgow-Edinburgh derby during one of the abandoned European weekends last month and some players were involved in Premiership matches last week. “It is what it is,” said Jones. “I accept not getting the players right for this match and so we did not perform at the level we intended to. We were not good enough today and we have to accept that. Scotland had a 10-1 penalty count early on and 75% possession which meant we were not able to get our runners into the match.” The England captain, Owen Farrell, said he hoped the defeat would light a fire underneath his team and leave them burning with desire in a campaign that will take them to Cardiff and Dublin. “We struggled to achieve momentum and played a lot in our own half,” he said. “I think we tried too hard and ended up conceding a number of penalties. They were awarded for a variety of reasons and it is what happens when you are under pressure.” Scotland’s head coach, Gregor Townsend, said the victory was the highlight of his coaching career. It came a year after there were calls for him to leave having failed to qualify for the World Cup quarter-finals. “This is right up there with the best results in Scotland’s history,” he said. “I thought we were outstanding in very difficult conditions. The rain became harder in the second half and we showed a lot of control. “I thought Cameron Redpath was outstanding on his debut and we created some good attacking opportunities. Our set pieces were strong and we were really organised. What we have to do is build on this, starting with Wales at Murrayfield next weekend. We have a real opportunity now to build.” The Scotland full-back Stuart Hogg, who won the Premiership and a European Cup double with Exeter last season, called on his teammates to back up the victory in a tournament that his side have never won: they were the last champions of the old Five Nations in 1999. “We will enjoy this moment having waited a long time for it. It is about moving on to the next challenge,” he said. “We knew in the week that we had a real chance of winning this match. What had happened in the past was gone but what we could control was the future. We kept it to ourselves, which is unusual, and we were full value for the victory. Everyone played a full part and what is good for us is that we know we can get better. “We left a few opportunities out there but we stood up to England physically and not many teams will come here and win two-thirds of the possession. We set out to front up on both sides of the ball and we achieved that. We worked incredibly hard and we got our reward.”