OMG... I'm coming here after a couple of days to calm down, but I'm still frustrated... less so by the result, mainly by the officiating. OK, I'm an England fan, so I can lean towards bias, but I played for 30 years, and now I'm both a coach and a ref, so I thing I have a decent perspective on things.
10 minutes in I knew the ref was going to play England out of the game. It happens often at local club level, but you don't expect it at international level. May getting penalised for rolling on the floor... 99% of the time you get away with that. Farrell not rolling away from the tackle leading to the first try... Farrell was at the side of the ruck and the Welsh scrum-half was holding the ball, Farrell had not impeded play. One of the papers reviewed Itoje's penalties and concluded one was undeserved and the other 4 were borderline. Many offences happen during a game of rugby, and as a referee you should decide if it is consequential versus letting play flow. Arguably most of England's infringements were infringements, but it was not necessary to blow the whistle every time, especially if borderline or inconsequential.
The first try was appalling game management by the ref, and a total flashback to 2019... England v Wales, Gauzere restarts the game while England are making a HIA replacement, Biggar plays a cross kick and the winger score. Incidentally, that incident was such a shocker World Rugby made an immediate amendment to Law 3 the next working day.
I was lost for words when the second try was given. The refereeing team showed a complete knowledge lapse with regard to the laws. As a referee, common sense is typically a good guide... his first instinct was a knock-on, both Welsh players clearly looked (facial expression) like they had fluffed it. There has been a lot of debate whether it was a knock-on, with many showing a lack of understanding of the laws, but now even
Gauzere has admitted it was a knock-on and that he made a mistake.
I'll admit England should have done better in the final 20 minutes, but the mental and physical effort to pull level had taken its toll, and (see above) the ref was continuing to penalise every borderline incident. Wales managed the circumstances well, though it might have been very different if it was 6-14 at half-time.