The Six Nations tournament kicks off with defeats for England and reigning champions Wales.

Scotland has retained the Calcutta Cup after a dramatic victory over England in the first match of the Six Nations rugby tournament.

The auld enemies battled to a close 20-17 result in damp conditions in Edinburgh, though England seemed to have the upper hand until the final quarter.

Thousands of rugby fans came to Murrayfield for the first match since Scotland lifted its COVID-19 restrictions.

Six Nations 2022: Scotland hold on for 20-17 win over England after penalty try drama

Scotland coach Gregor Townsend said: "(Our self-belief) is excellent, as is our character.

"We were behind and came back.

"Some of our best rugby was in the last 15 minutes in tricky conditions.

"It counts for nothing if we don't back it up with a performance next week.

"We know how tough it is to play Wales in their own stadium in the Six Nations."

England coach Eddie Jones said: "It's tough for us to start the tournament like that. We had a really good preparation. I thought we played with a lot of purpose. A lot of drive, a lot of determination.

"We played well, we just didn't get the result.

"Our last game against South Africa we got the penalty at the end and won.

"They (Scotland) got the penalty at the end this time, and that's the tightness of test match rugby. We just weren't quite good enough tonight."

Meanwhile Wales - last year's champions - were beaten 29-7 by a resurgent Ireland at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin.

Ireland scored four tries, giving them an extra point which sent them to the top of the table.

Irish captain Johnny Sexton said: "We feel there was plenty of stuff to brush up on for next week because France away is arguably one of the biggest tests in world rugby, so we need to be at our very best and we need to learn some lessons from today, even in victory."

Wales captain Dan Biggar said: "We said the discipline and the physicality were the two things that we needed to bring, coming to Dublin, and we probably didn't get those two quite right across the whole 80 minutes."

Ireland 29-7 Wales: Scintillating hosts romp to bonus-point Six Nations victory in Dublin

France will play their opener at home to Italy in the Stade de France on Sunday in the Giuseppe Garibaldi rivalry trophy.

The home side will be without their head coach Fabien Galthie who is isolating due to COVID-19. Raphael Ibanez will take charge in his absence.