After beating England for the first time in six years, nobody in the Scotland camp was hiding the secret behind their victory - an unbreakable defence fuelled with some of the finest spirit ever produced north of the border.

The English runners came, wave after wave, but were kept at bay sometimes by a wall of blue shirts and sometimes by a desperate grab-and-hope intervention, the Scottish rearguard bent but never broke.

It was particularly difficult for the men in the hosts' three-quarters who, before the game, had been charged with finding a way past one of the toughest defences in the world but instead spent the evening manning the barricades.

Backs like Andy Henderson, Marcus Di Rollo and Sean Lamont had precious little ball to demonstrate their range of talents on the Murrayfield stage and instead they had to sacrifice their personal ambitions for the greater good.

But, according to Henderson, the current Scotland side is bound by their belief in the common good.

"The spirit was unbelievable," said the inside centre who plays his club rugby in the Celtic League

with Glasgow Warriors. "It has come in the last half-dozen games where the guys have been really working hard for each other and desperate to make last-ditch tackles."

They had to make several on Saturday. In the first half, little Dan Parks managed to hold on to the socks of a rampaging Ben Cohen as he honed in on the Scotland posts.

And in the second, it was the even smaller Chris Paterson who caught Matt Dawson as he came down under a high kick and turned him Scot-land's way in a single motion.

And why? Because they want to play for the new head coach, who coincidentally took over the reins half-a-dozen or so games ago.

"Frank Hadden coming in has helped," Henderson agreed. "Everybody buys into what we are doing and believes in the way we are playing.

"We knew that they would be big and physical and come at us hard. We did not have the ball for long spells, they made some half-breaks and were really dangerous runners. When they moved the ball wide, they stretched us, so it was a case of trying to get back and make those last-ditch tackles."

Their ability to do so meant all of Scotland were able to celebrate a memorable occasion when will triumphed over wealth.

"It is as big a game as there could be. It is nice to have something to show for it. Beating France was huge but having a cup is even better," Henderson said. ..SUPL: