England coach Martin Johnson admitted his side needs big improvement if they are to beat Ireland in Dublin on Saturday to secure their first Grand Slam win in eight years.

Johnson's England are coming off a scrappy 22-16 victory over Scotland at Twickenham on Sunday.

"We know we can play a lot better than that," Johnson said.

"We had them on the ropes but we couldn't quite land the killer blow. They looked tired and we needed to push them over the edge but couldn't quite do it."

England captain Mike Tindall, who accepted the Calcutta Cup from his future mother-in-law Princess Anne, was also disappointed with the performance.

"Obviously winning the game is the most important thing but we are not happy with the way we played," said the 2003 World Cup winning centre.

Tindall meanwhile insisted England would not be distracted by talk a Grand Slam.

"It still won't be allowed to be discussed," he said.

A second-half try from replacement flanker Tom Croft and 17 points from the combined boots of Toby Flood and Jonny Wilkinson clinched victory for England as Scotland's 28-year losing streak at Twickenham continued.

Scotland's points came from a late try by wing Max Evans while fullback Chris Paterson added two penalties and a conversion.

Scotland will now be aiming to avoid a wooden spoon against Italy at Murrayfield after their fourth defeat of the championship.

Coach Andy Robinson meanwhile bemoaned his Scotland's failure to gain the upper hand at the scrum and line-out.

"We had to get control at the set piece and we didn't," Robinson said. "Obviously that's disappointing."

A shapeless first half had ended level at 9-9 as England struggled to convert their territorial dominance and strength at the scrum into tries.

Paterson had given Scotland the lead early on with his first penalty before Flood levelled when Scotland prop Allan Jacobsen went to ground at a scrum.

The penalty was the first of several Scotland were to concede at the scrum, where both Jacobsen and tighthead Moray Low came under fierce pressure.

Paterson and Flood swapped further penalties before yet another infringement at the scrum - Jacobsen pinged for slipping his binding - resulted in a Flood kicking England to a 9-6 lead.

But just on half-time Scotland got back on level terms when fly-half Ruaridh Jackson split the uprights with a superb drop goal from 30 metres.

England finally regained the lead midway through the second-half, Flood slotting his fourth penalty after Scotland were penalised near the posts, an infringement that saw John Barclay sin-binned.

Scotland needed a last-ditch tackle from Paterson to deny Foden a try in the corner, and with 15 minutes remaining Johnson sent on England's reinforcements, bringing on hooker Steve Thompson, lock Simon Shaw, Croft and Wilkinson.

The new blood had the required effect and on 68 minutes, Croft crashed over after being released by Cueto with what looked like a forward pass.

Wilkinson converted and England appeared poised for victory at 19-9 up.

However a clever individual try by Evans, chipping and gathering his own kick, ensured a nail-biting finale before Wilkinson gave England a five-point cushion with a nerveless late penalty.

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