Wales - who included Dragons RFC duo Dan Lydiate and Taine Basham - threw away a golden opportunity to triumph at Twickenham for the first time since their smash and grab raid on England at the 2015 Rugby World Cup.
Warren Gatland’s men had lacked possession and been under the cosh for nearly an hour with only England’s lack of clarity, quality and ambition keeping Wales in proceedings.
England led 9-0 at that point but the match was turned on its head when the Red Rose pressed the self-destruct button with prop Ellis Genge and full-back Freddie Steward being sin-binned, and captain Owen Farrell sent off for smashing Wales replacement flanker Taine Basham with a shoulder into the head.
Steward’s indiscretion, taking out Josh Adams in the air, had conceded a penalty try to give Wales the lead and they extended it with a runaway score from scrum-half Tomos Williams.
But England, who were down to 12 men for a number of minutes, fought back with a driving maul from a lineout bringing a try for lock forward Maro Itoje. George Ford converted and put them back in front with five minutes remaining with a penalty after Wales’ Adam Beard was sin-binned.
Wales next face South Africa at Principality Stadium on Saturday (August 19) with a 3.15pm kick-off.
