England made “too many errors” and allowed Scotland to score “far too easily”, said head coach Steve Borthwick after his side’s Six Nations defeat at Murrayfield.
Duhan van der Merwe scored a superb hat-trick as Scotland won 30-21 to end England’s 100% record.
“We know today wasn’t good enough,” Borthwick told BBC One.
“We made too many errors to win a Test match. We will make sure it is better going forward.”
England raced into a 10-0 lead before defensive and handling errors were punished by Van der Merwe.
“We saw in some aspects of our game a step forward but there were too many handling errors,” added Borthwick.
“We’re trying to develop our attack but if you turn over that much ball it’s very difficult to win a Test match against a team of Scotland’s quality.
Borthwick, who is rebuilding his team after guiding England to a third-place finish at the World Cup, pointed to his side’s inexperience compared to the settled line-up Scotland’s Gregor Townsend put out.
This was England’s first game using the combination of fly-half George Ford and centres Ollie Lawrence and Henry Slade.
For Scotland, fly-half Finn Russell has played alongside Sione Tuipulotu and Huw Jones since the 2023 Six Nations.
“Scotland’s 10,12,13 have started a dozen times. That is the first time our 10,12,13 have started together.
“It is going to take some work and we know that.”
England’s next match is at Twickenham against impressive Six Nations leaders Ireland before they finish their campaign away to France.
Borthwick’s side still have to win at least one of those games to avoid finishing a fourth successive Six Nations with only two wins from their five games.
‘Loose’ England punished after bright start
Borthwick’s side were behind against both Italy and Wales in the opening two rounds at half-time but came back to win.
Captain Jamie George said the opening period at Murrayfield was “the best” he has seen his side play for a “little while”.
Full-back George Furbank opened the scoring before Van der Merwe’s hat-trick, which included a solo try from halfway.
“We really felt in a good way coming into this,” George said.
“In games, we’ve lacked foundation and made life hard for ourselves but the first 20 minutes of the game is probably the best I’ve seen us play for a little while.
“I don’t have any issues with how we played in the first half but then we were a little bit loose in terms of the ball. We gave the ball to Finn Russell and Van der Merwe and they can create magic, and they did that.”
The turning point
The pick of the scores was Van der Merwe’s second try.
England were leading 10-7 when the winger collected a loose ball on halfway and raced around England’s Ben Earl before accelerating clear to finish spectacularly in the corner.
“To dance around Ben Earl and sprint down the touchline in what you know is going to be a tight game, you need moments of magic and players to stand up – he did that,” said Monye on BBC One.
“Not only is it a brilliant finish, I don’t think England recovered emotionally from that.”
