England scrum-half Ben Youngs admitted they had shot themselves in the foot and let Wales off the hook in the 40-24 defeat in Cardiff.

Youngs' 62nd minute try helped level it up at 24-24, after Wales had scored two early controversial tries, before England's ill discipline handed the hosts three penalties before Cory Hill's try rubbed salt in the wounds.

Eddie Jones' side conceded 14 penalties to Wales' nine and the trio in the last quarter cost them the game.

Youngs who played his 107th England game on Saturday said: 'We just couldn't eradicate poor discipline. When you give away easy points you're going to be putting yourself under pressure and eventually they were able to claw ahead.

'We felt momentum was with us but it was our own undoing at times. Credit to Wales for capitalising but our discipline wasn't where we'd expect it to be. It was very similar to when we played Scotland.

'That's the most disappointing thing for me and it's something we need to get hold of quickly and eradicate from our game. There's no doubting the effort and the intensity...the boys went into it feeling physically great. Even against the odds, following those tries, we clawed our way back in which showed great character. Unfortunately once we got ourselves back in a position to kick on and try and win the game we coughed up too many easy points.'

Captain Owen Farrell added: 'That is an issue for us and something we have to look at. I thought the effort was good today, the intent was good today but we can't let teams off that many times. It is the whole team's job to make sure to make sure we are looking after each other and we are all on the same page. We will look at that.'

England play France in a fortnight and the Six Nations is gone but Youngs is determined for England to sign off in style at Twickenham before their final game in Ireland.

He added: 'We've got a very proud record at Twickenham and our next game is vitally important. If we can recreate the energy and buzz we had and channel it with some discipline we'll be absolutely in the right spot to perform.'