England captain Steve Borthwick was left with an 'empty feeling' immediately after the 15-15 Calcutta Cup draw with Scotland.
But that void was soon filled by frustration as Borthwick reflected on England's poor discipline and inability to think on their feet.
England was warned on three occasions by referee Marius Jonker that one more offence would result in a player being sin-binned.
The South African official did not follow through on his threat to brandish a yellow card, prompting Scotland coach Andy Robinson to declare Jonker should have been stronger.
But England was penalised heavily at the breakdown and ultimately let off the hook after Scotland kicker Dan Parks twice hit the post.
Borthwick knows England cannot afford to gift Grand Slam-chasing France the same opportunities in Paris next week.
"We were guilty of not adapting quickly enough or we adapted and then seemed to give away some silly penalties," Borthwick said.
"We gave away too many penalties and they were preventable. There were mistakes made by us and we have to hold our hands up to that.
"Whether it was interpretation or not is by the by. If you want to win a game, you have to adapt. You have to find out where that line is and play to it.
"A big aspect we need to learn is that we can't relieve the pressure on the opposition by giving penalties away. Some of their points were preventable. We got ourselves into the lead but mistakes cost us.
"We gave away too many penalties and certainly penalties in kickable range in such a tight game.
"A draw leaves you with an empty feeling. It was a challenging game out there. Scotland played very well but I was ultimately frustrated that we didn't come away with a win.
"France are playing well. We must get better again next week. We will be really frank and honest with ourselves and look at the areas we need to do better."
The contest was fractured by constant scrum resets, penalties and injuries in what was a brutal Murrayfield showdown.
While Robinson made pointed remarks about Jonkers' breakdown interpretations, Borthwick had questions of his own regarding the scrum and believes Scotland were at fault.
"There were a lot of resets. From an English perspective I felt we had dominance in that area. We had our front row on their feet for many of those resets," he said.
"In the first half he penalised Scotland a couple of times for the bind of their tighthead but that was the last time it was penalised."