England head coach Eddie Jones claimed referee James Doleman tried to help Australia after sending off Wallabies lock Darcy Swain as his side slumped to their fourth successive defeat in Perth The 30-28 reverse also marks back-to-back matches in which England have lost after the opposition have had a player red carded in the first half following their blowout loss to the Barbarians, this time Swain for headbutting Jonny Hill.
If that was not enough of a disadvantage, Australia also lost three players to injury before the half-hour mark with fly-half Quade Cooper (calf) in the warm-up, full-back Tom Banks (broken arm) and prop Allan Alaalatoa (concussion) all being withdrawn.
Yet a flurry of three tries in 13 minutes allowed them to overturn a 14-8 deficit and halt their eight-game losing run against Jones’ England.
A late pair of tries from replacements Henry Arundell and Jack van Poortvliet gave the scoreline a flattering gloss but Jones said that England had let Australia off the hook during the periods of dominance in the first half and just after half-time.