The three autumn tests held at Murrayfield during November yielded wins over Argentina and Tonga, and a narrow defeat against New Zealand. The test against Tonga took place at Rugby Park, Kilmarnock, and was the first Rugby Union international to be played on an artificial surface. The 2015 Six Nations Championship ended in a whitewash for Scotland, despite optimism amongst players and supporters beforehand. However, Scotland displayed improved performances in their World Cup warm-up games over the summer, with two wins over Italy and narrow defeats away in Ireland and France. Scotland played well at the 2015 Rugby World Cup in England; qualifying from their group by beating Japan, USA and Samoa, although they lost to South Africa. Scotland played Australia in the quarter-finals, and with 30 seconds remaining led 34–32. However, referee Craig Joubert then awarded the Wallabies a highly controversial penalty, later judged by the game's ruling body to be incorrect, which Bernard Foley scored to give Australia victory. Scotland lost their first two games in the 2016 Six Nations Championship, extending their losing streak in the Six Nations to nine matches, their worst run in the championship since the 1950s. The Scots finally ended their losing run with a 36–20 win over Italy in Rome; John Barclay, John Hardie and Tommy Seymour all scoring tries. Scotland followed that win up with a victory over France at Murrayfield; Stuart Hogg, Duncan Taylor and Tim Visser scoring tries in a 29–18 win. It was Scotland's first victory over France since 2006, and also ended a 10 match losing streak against "Les Bleus". Scotland had a successful tour of Japan in June (winning both test matches), and during the Autumn Internationals recorded a third consecutive win against Argentina (their seventh recognised win overall against the Pumas). In the 2017 Six Nations, Scotland saw a marked improvement in performance with three home wins and two away defeats. This was Vern Cotter's last tournament as head coach of Scotland, despite their also beating Australia 24-19 on the summer tour of the Southern Hemisphere. In their first 6Ns game, Scotland went in with confidence to win their first opening match for eleven years against Ireland in a close match at Murrayfield Stadium. This followed with a defeat in Paris to France. Scotland secured a win over Wales in their third game, Scotland's first since 2007. In the eagerly anticipated Calcutta Cup tie against England at Twickenham, however, Scotland were thrashed 61–21. This was a record defeat against the English, and a result which ended their hopes of winning the Six Nations.