ENGLAND head coach Eddie Jones refused to blame the controversial decisions of referee Pascal Gauzere after his team's Six Nations title hopes were ended by a record defeat to Wales.
A 40-24, bonus-point Welsh success was the country's biggest over their bitter rivals and secured Wayne Pivac's side a Triple Crown. They are now two games away from a Six Nations clean sweep.
Wales scored two controversial first-half tries through Josh Adams and Liam Williams.
The first came when Dan Biggar took a quick cross-kick to Adams who scored after England captain Owen Farrell had been sent back to talk to his team by Gauzere.
The second was finished by Williams after it looked like Louis Rees-Zammit had knocked on. Gauzere checked the try with his TMO Alex Ruiz, but the score was given.
Jones and Farrell stayed tight-lipped on Gauzere's decisions, but their fury was obvious.
“They're huge decisions, but we can't debate it – we are not allowed,” Jones said.
“All I will end up with is a fine and that won't help anyone. The dog won't be able to eat its food and the wife won't be able to eat, so I can't say anything.
“It's a very disappointing result. Wales were very worthy winners. We take full responsibility and don't blame the referee, but sometimes there are circumstances that happen that are difficult to handle and we weren't good enough to handle them in this game.”
Wales captain Alun Wyn Jones admitted his team had the rub of the green, but coach Pivac warned there will be no Grand Slam party just yet.
“It feels great. The players are feeling very good about the performance they put in,” Pivac said.
“It was a special day. The weather was good and we went out there and got a bonus-point win. You have to be proud of the performance. From a Welsh point of view field kick was pinpoint.
“It was good skill. Josh did his job by hanging out there to give us the option and I thought it was well taken once the referee said time on. If it was against us, we'd be having a little bit of a look at ourselves and why we didn't react quicker.”
Gauzere penalised England 14 times across the 80 minutes with Maro Itoje a constant offender.
It allowed Wales to romp to a bonus-point win in comfortable fashion.
“There is no point talking about it now,” Farrell said of Gauzere's decisions. “We got our way back into it in the second half, but did not quite finish it off. We can do better. We can control what we can control. It (discipline) is an issue for us and we're going to have to look at it.”
Wales scored two more tries in the second half through Kieran Hardy and replacement lock Cory Hill. The late kicking of Callum Sheedy ended any English hopes of a comeback. Jones' side scored through Anthony Watson and Ben Youngs.
On Adams' try, England scrum-half Youngs said:
“The referee was adamant it was fine and he's the guy in charge. You just get on with it.
“We clawed our way back to 24-24, but our ill-discipline was the theme of the game.”
Jones added: “This is a great lesson for the team. There were times we gave away penalties we shouldn't have. Sometimes you get in situations where you try too hard and that happen.
“Whenever you get beaten and bettered by a penalty count it is an issue, but there were bigger issues in the game than that.”
