Owen Farrell has backed England captain Chris Robshaw for opting to go for victory against Wales rather than kicking a late penalty for a draw.

With the Pool A match finely poised in the closing moments at Twickenham on Saturday, England were awarded a penalty deep in Wales territory.

A successful kick for goal would have levelled the match at 28-28, but England opted to go for touch and a match-winning try.

That failed to materialise as the strong Welsh pack kept them at bay, leading to Robshaw taking responsibility for the 28-25 defeat.

"You tend to back yourself as a kicker, but I wanted to back the decision," said Farrell. "We had a chat about the decision together. But at that time we wanted to go and win the game.

"It's a risk-reward type thing. When you make the decision, as a group, to go for the corner, you back it. If it comes off then the decision is brilliant, but it hasn't turned out that way this time.

"There were a couple of us and there were lads around us. We all bought in. If it doesn't work out you'll get criticised. It's something to jump on. It's not worked out this time, but if we'd got the match-winning try everyone would have praised the decision."

Despite the defeat, hooker Tom Youngs still believes England can qualify from the pool, even though that means beating Australia next weekend.

"I am very convinced [we will qualify]," he said. "Because of all the hard work we’ve done over the last 12 or 13 weeks, because we're a tight-knit group. It’s a challenge we accept and one we are all looking forward to.

"There's nothing better than when you lose a game, how upset and annoyed you are about it.

"At least we can focus our minds straight into another game. If the season had ended now it would drag out that much longer."