Following Ben Waghorn's try and Sean Kerr's pinpoint conversion with four minutes to play, England thought they had won it when Ireland knocked on with the clock in the red as the home side's benches cleared thinking they'd toppled the back-to-back champions.
However, referee Reuben Keane was playing an advantage for a tackle in the air off the restart and, after Ireland went to the corner, sustained pressure eventually resulted in a second successive stalemate-following their 34-34 draw in last summer's World Championship that was fitting of a brilliant battle between the competition's top two sides.
A showdown in Pau is to come for Mark Mapletoft's side but they will have to regroup after finding themselves in disbelief at full-time.
England head coach Mapletoft was unhappy with the late penalty as he felt the collision was fair.
He said: "Look, I'm not one for commenting on how difficult decisions are in the heat of the moment but there was absolutely nothing wrong with the contest in the air.
"Finn (Carnduff) goes up, video evidence is clear and obvious. I don't need to go on about it.
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