England followed up last weekend's earth-shattering improvement with a bitty 26-12 win over Scotland as they reclaimed the Calcutta Cup at Twickenham on Saturday.
It was hardly one for rugby's purists as frustrating handling errors coupled with both side's keenness not to lose scuppered the contest as Ugo Monye, Riki Flutey and Mathew Tait's scores ultimately proved the difference.
Judgement day for Frank Hadden had already been set pre-game and with their fifth-place finish just above the Azzurri falling below the board's minimum requirement, it could well have been the last time he led his loyal troops.
England, meanwhile, were left to consider what might have been after away defeats in Wales and Ireland cost them any chance of playing for the title this afternoon.
This may have been just a prelude to the day's main event in Cardiff but it was of no less importance to Martin Johnson in his attempts to rebuild "Fortress Twickenham".
Scotland, who had not won at Twickenham since 1983, started both halves well and kept in touch with three penalties from Chris Paterson and a long-range strike from Phil Godman.
Hadden's men succeeded where France failed last week, by absorbing England's early attacking threat and briefly turning the tables to ask questions of Martin Johnson's men.
Mark Cueto had a break snuffed out by Max and Thom Evans down one wing and Delon Armitage, whose pace ripped France to shreds last weekend, was expertly shepherded into touch by Paterson.
In between time, Paterson had given Scotland a 3-0 lead after Harry Ellis was penalised for not rolling away and Thom Evans came within a metre of scoring a brilliant breakaway try.
The Glasgow winger sprinted clear after Ellis had tried to snipe down the blindside. He left Flood in his wake and looked for all the world like scoring a 70-metre special.
But Evans had not banked on the electric pace of England's former schoolboy sprinter Monye, who raced diagonally across field and pulled off one of the great tackles to deny him in the corner.
England conceded five penalties in the first sixteen minutes and they also lost Phil Vickery and Ellis to injuries.
Vickery looked dazed when he went off but play was halted for around ten minutes after Ellis was knocked out in a tackle on Simon Danielli and eventually taken off the field on a stretcher.
He required stitches to a gash behind the ear but was back on the England bench smiling before the end of the game.
England would not have asked for a break under such circumstances, but they made the most of it and emerged from their huddle to dominate the rest of the half.
England soon took the lead with a slick move featuring Flutey and Flood creating the chance for Monye to slip out of Paterson's cover tackle and score his first Test try.
It had taken just over 22 minutes but England had regained their swagger from last week and they scored again after Scotland made a mess of a lineout just five metres out.
England spread the ball left and Flutey cut between two defenders and wriggled his way to the line for a try confirmed by the television officials.
Mike Blair then wasted a golden opportunity for a quick Scotland reply when he failed to spot Danielli screaming for the inside pass having spun clear of England's defence.
It was a only brief respite for Scotland. Simon Shaw charged down a kick from Blair and Flutey injected some pace into the attack before being hauled down just short of the line.
The forwards took over but Julian White was ruled to have been held up after a tunnelling drive for the line before England finished the half with a penalty for Flood.
The half-time statistics did not make happy reading for Scotland. England had enjoyed 62 per cent possession, 68 per cent territory and won ball in their opponent's 22 on 22 occasions to Scotland's nil.
And with Johnson urging England to "out-work and out-enthuse" their opponents, nor did the full-time figures show Scotland in a good light. England made twice as many passes and forced Scotland into twice as many tackles.
England, though, lost the penalty count again -- poor discipline has cost them dear in this championship -- and that allowed Scotland to chip away at their lead in the second half with Paterson slotting two more efforts to finish the tournament with a 100 per cent record.
Godman joined in on the act with a long-range strike but Scotland could not get close enough to England.
Care slotted a drop goal to make it 21-12 and Tait rounded off the victory with a neatly-taken try in the corner.
The scorers:
For England:
Tries: Monye, Flutey, Tait
Con: Flood
Pen: Flood 2
Drop: Care
For Scotland:
Pen: Paterson 4
England: 15 Delon Armitage, 14 Mark Cueto, 13 Mike Tindall, 12 Riki Flutey, 11 Ugo Monye, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Harry Ellis, 8 Nick Easter, 7 Joe Worsley, 6 Tom Croft, 5 Simon Shaw, 4 Steve Borthwick (captain), 3 Phil Vickery, 2 Lee Mears, 1 Andrew Sheridan.
Replacements: 16 Dylan Hartley, 17 Julian White, 18 Nick Kennedy, 19 James Haskell, 20 Danny Care, 21 Andy Goode, 22 Mathew Tait.
Scotland: 15 Chris Paterson, 14 Simon Danielli, 13 Max Evans, 12 Graeme Morrison, 11 Thom Evans, 10 Phil Godman, 9 Mike Blair (captain), 8 Simon Taylor, 7 Scott Gray, 6 Alasdair Strokosch, 5 Jim Hamilton, 4 Jason White, 3 Euan Murray, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Alasdair Dickinson.
Replacements: 16 Dougie Hall, 17 Moray Low, 18 Nathan Hines, 19 Kelly Brown, 20 Chris Cusiter, 21 Nick De Luca, 22 Hugo Southwell.
Referee: Marius Jonker (South Africa)
Touch judges: Christophe Berdos (France), Simon, McDowell (Ireland)
Television match official: Carlo Damasco (Italy)
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