IN PICTURES: Saturday's test rugby round-up

Sport360 staff 16:16 18/06/2016

NEW ZEALAND 36 – 22 WALES

New Zealand once again showed their ruthless streak to condemn Wales to a series-deciding 36-22 defeat in Wellington.

The world champions scored 26 unanswered points in the second half, thanks to tries from Ben Smith, Beauden Barrett, Waisake Naholo and Ardie Savea, to go 2-0 up in the three-match series.

Alun Wyn Jones cancelled out Israel Dagg’s first-half score at Wellington’s Westpac Stadium, while late tries from Liam Williams and Jonathan Davies proved too little, too late.

AUSTRALIA 7 – 23 ENGLAND

England beat Australia 23-7 in the second Test in Melbourne which handed them an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.

The rivals fought each other to a standstill in an ugly but captivating second Test from which the Grand Slam champions emerged emphatic winners despite spending most of the second half halting waves of attacks from the Wallabies.

Captain Dylan Hartley, who became England’s most capped hooker, crossed in the first half before Owen Farrell added the decisive try with six minutes remaining.

SCOTLAND 26 – 13 JAPAN

Captain Greig Laidlaw kicked 16 points as Scotland overcame Japan to clinch a 26-13 victory in the opening Test in Toyota city.

Laidlaw slotted over four penalties and also added the extras for a first-half penalty try and a second-half WP Nel score as Scotland edged out their hosts in the first of two meetings.

The decisive period was on either side of half-time when Japan found themselves down to 13 men with two players in the sin bin, allowing the Dark Blues to take a firm grip on proceedings.

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