A ruthless England side racked up a record score to beat Australia 44-40 in a thrilling rollercoaster of a third Test Saturday, inflicting a first 3-0 home series sweep on the Wallabies since 1971. Tries from prop Dan Cole, fullback Mike Brown, No. 8 Billy Vunipola and replacement hooker Jamie George combined with 24 points from the boot of flyhalf Owen Farrell extended its winning streak under coach Eddie Jones to nine matches. Wingers Dane Haylett-Petty and Taqele Naiyaravoro, flyhalf Bernard Foley, fullback Israel Folau and flanker Michael Hooper crossed for Australia but they were unable to match the discipline and set-piece strength of the Six Nations champion. England won the first test in Brisbane 39-28 with its previous record points tally against the Wallabies before securing their first series triumph in Australia with a 23-7 victory in Melbourne on the back of huge defensive effort. The tourists showed they had come to play running rugby Saturday. All Blacks sweep Wales Flyhalf Beauden Barrett did more than enough to give coach Steve Hansen more selection headaches ahead of this year's Rugby Championship as the All Blacks completed a series sweep over Wales with a 46-6 third Test victory in Dunedin Saturday. Barrett, who finished the game at fullback, scored two tries and added two penalties and five conversions in his 26 points for the world champions who ran away with the game in the second half at Otago Regional Stadium in Dunedin. Ben Smith, George Moala, Dan Coles and Israel Dagg all scored tries for the hosts, who already fielded somewhat of an experimental side and ended the game with Smith and regular winger Waisake Naholo in the midfield and Dagg on the wing. Flyhalf Dan Biggar kicked two first half penalties for the visitors, who had been enterprising and put the world champions under pressure in the first two tests but ran out of steam after 12 months of constant rugby. The All Blacks had a much better first half than they did in the first two games, which pleased Hansen. "We wanted to start really well and we improved on last week," Hansen said. "That first 65 minutes was probably as good as we wanted it to be at this stage of the season. "But you're always wanting more, aren't you? That's something we will work on." — Reuters
