England survived a disappointing second-half performance to regain the Calcutta Cup from Scotland.
The Scots took the lead through a Chris Paterson penalty but England hit back with Ugo Monye and Riki Flutey tries.
Toby Flood kicked the hosts into an 18-3 lead early in the second half but Scotland fought back through the boots of Paterson and Phil Godman.
At one point they trailed by just six points but a Danny Care drop-goal and late Mathew Tait try saw England home.
The victory, allied to Ireland’s defeat of Wales, meant much-criticised England finished the championship as runners-up for the second year in a row.
They were poor for the first half of the tournament but put France to the sword in their previous outing and went into the game full of confidence.
With Scotland having not won at Twickenham since 1983 and having suffered 40-point defeats in their previous four visits England fancied their chances of another big win.
But after some powerful, pacy and direct rugby in the first 40 minutes they lost their way after the break and conceded far too many penalties – not for the first time this championship – to let Scotland back into the game.
The visitors took the lead when the metronomic Paterson bisected the posts with an early penalty, and they came desperately close to scoring the first try of the game.
England turned over possession at a ruck and speedy Scotland wing Thom Evans set sail along the left touchline.
He looked odds-on to score but the lightning Monye was covering across and just brought him down a couple of yards short of the line, with Flood finishing the job to stop the Scots bagging the opening try.
England were then hit by two serious injuries with a dazed Phil Vickery led off to be replaced at tight-head prop by Julian White and Harry Ellis stretchered off after attempting to tackle Simon Danielli.
The Leicester scrum-half hit his head on the powerful Scotland winger’s hip and was knocked unconscious but was fit enough to come out and sit on the bench before the final whistle.
England boss Martin Johnson was pleased with the win despite the second half showing
After a long delay while Ellis was tended to England seized control and they took the lead just after the midway point of the half with a superb try.
After setting up a ruck on the right the ball was fired down the line and the suggestion of a Flood dummy helped create the space for Monye to thunder over in the corner.
England spent the rest of the half crashing in waves against the resolute Scottish defence and finally enjoyed their reward just after the 30-minute mark.
Scotland managed to halt one attack when they bundled Joe Worsley into touch but when they failed to control the resulting line-out the Wasps flanker had his revenge.
The rejuvenated back-rower pounced on a loose ball and showed uncharacteristically good hands to throw a cute little overhead pass and although the rest of the forwards failed to burrow over from a yard, when the ball went left Flutey took responsibility.
The Wasps centre side-stepped to the line and the television match official ruled he had just managed to dot the ball down despite desperate Scottish defence.
In the process he went to the top of the 2009 Six Nations scoring charts with four.
Flood converted and although England could not add a third try despite setting up camp in the Scottish half, Flood chipped over a penalty just before the interval to give England a 15-3 lead.
It looked as though the hosts were set for a comprehensive victory but they fell off their game and Scotland began to edge back into the contest.
A penalty apiece from Flood and Paterson maintained the advantage entering the final half hour before Scotland cut the gap to nine points as Phil Godman banged over a long-range effort for the visitors.
After such an impressive opening half England had reverted to the stuttering form that has characterised so much of their play over the past few years and their nerves were ratcheted up another notch when Flood missed a simple penalty.
Godman fell just short with a long-range penalty but when Nick Easter was penalised for holding on at a ruck Paterson made no mistake to reduce the margin to less than a converted try.
With the home crowd growing restless England managed to steady their nerves and regain the upper hand, with Care popping over a drop-goal as the referee played an advantage to England.
The hosts had brought on a raft of replacements in the second half and it was one of the new boys, Tait, who had the final word as he went over untouched on the left after good passing down the line from England.
Scotland’s Hugo Southwell was stretchered off after taking a blow to the head trying to tackle Delon Armitage in the build-up to the try, but was later given the all-clear.
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England: Armitage; Cueto, Tindall, Flutey, Monye; Flood, Ellis; Sheridan, Mears, Vickery, Borthwick, Shaw, Croft, Worsley, Easter.
Replacements: Tait for Monye (48), Goode for Flood (73), Care for Ellis (16), Hartley for Mears (73), White for Vickery (14), Kennedy for Shaw (57), Haskell for Croft (73).
Scotland: Paterson; Danielli, M Evans, Morrison, T Evans; Godman, Blair; Dickinson, Ford, Murray, White, Hamilton, Strokosch, Gray, Taylor, Taylor.
Replacements: Low for Danielli (75), De Luca for T Evans (44), Cusiter for Blair (68), Southwell for Dickinson (75), Hall for Ford (67), Hines for White (57), Brown for Taylor (41), Brown for Taylor (41).
Att: 80,688
Italy also failed to take their first chance, Andrea Marcato missing a penalty for the visitors, and they shipped a second try after 18 minutes following a second Mauro Bergamasco error.
