Eddie Jones believes Darcy Swain’s dismissal inadvertently helped Australia

Eddie Jones insisted that referee James Doleman “evened up” England’s clash with Australia in Perth as a result of sending off Wallabies lock Darcy Swain.

England were dismal as they stumbled to a 30-28 defeat – a fourth successive loss and first to Australia since Jones took charge in 2015 – despite facing 14 men for a second consecutive match.

Swain was shown a red card for a 34th-minute headbutt on Jonny Hill and although the tourists were leading 6-3 at the time, they duly fell apart with the final scoreline given an undeserved sheen by late tries from Henry Arundell and Jack van Poortvliet.

While Jones clarified that he did not blame Doleman for losing the first Test at Optus Stadium, he claimed that Swain’s exit inadvertently helped Australia.

“You look at the history of the game, whenever you get a red card the referee evens it up. He helps the team with the red card,” Jones said.

“It’s social reciprocity, it happens, that’s normal and we’ve got to be good enough to handle it.

“That happens in every game of rugby I’ve seen. The team gets a red card and the opposition gets evened up. Because they’re nice blokes, referees.

“I’m not criticising the referees, I’m not using it as an excuse, that’s the reality of rugby.

“I’ll say it again. I think when you play against 14 men the referee has a significant impact on the game and you’ve got to be good enough to understand what that is.

“We weren’t good enough to understand what that is and therefore we paid the price.”

A star was born as Arundell made an explosive debut off the bench, scoring a dynamic try with his first touch of the game before setting off on another run that ultimately led to Van Poortvliet’s touch down.

But the 19-year-old’s thrilling seven-minute