England coach Eddie Jones has labelled the red card for Manu Tuilagi as “absolute rubbish” and claimed England ended up playing against 16 men in their 33-30 Six Nations win over Wales on Saturday.

England looked to be cruising to victory at Twickenham but were reduced to 13 men after a yellow card for prop Ellis Genge after a succession of penalties and the red for Tuilagi with about five minutes remaining as he crashed his shoulder into the head of George North while making a try-saving tackle.

New Zealand referee Ben O’Keefe referee had a long discussion with South African television match official Marius Jonker before ruling that although North was low to the ground, there were “no mitigating circumstances” that prevented him sending off the powerful centre.

That led to Wales scoring two tries and 14 unanswered points in the final minutes of the game.

Jones said things were made particularly difficult as it “ended up as “13 against 16”.

Asked to elaborate, he told journalists: “You work it out.

“I find it bizarre, I usually don’t comment, but I don’t see how you can tackle a guy,” Jones said.

“How else are you supposed to tackle him?

“This bit about where your arms are – what a load of rubbish.

“I think there’s no common sense applied in that situation It’s absolute rubbish.

“Clearly the guy’s falling, there’s a good chop tackle, Manu’s coming over the top to kill the tackle and doing everything he’s supposed to be doing – come on!

“When you have a three-man advantage it’s going to do some damage, so I thought we were exceptional. It was a good, tough win.”

Wales coach Wayne Pivac simply said he thought Tuilagi’s red card was the correct decision.

Once he had got the referee rant off his chest, Jones said he was delighted with the fight his team had shown.

Having started the competition with a defeat in France, England have now beaten Scotland, Ireland and Wales, looking very good for long spells.

“We are a better team now than at the World Cup,” Jones said.