Classic Lions 29 US Eagles 5

France 0 Australia 0

(France won 3-2 on penalties)

Classic Lions and France will meet in Wednesday's first semi-final following wins on the opening day of the World Rugby Classic at the National Sports Centre yesterday.

And while the Lions game will be memorable for a glorious fourth try in their 29-5 victory over USA Eagles, France's win over Australia will be memorable for all the wrong reasons.

In a game of truly awful rugby, where knock-ons, sloppy handling, and countless penalties were the norm, it was always going to take something special to rise above the mediocrity being dished out by two teams, who for reasons best known only to themselves, never got out of neutral.

What no-one would have expected was that the something special would involve a prop, a drop goal, and a penalty shoot-out after Australia and France had both failed to score in more than 90 minutes of play.

There are occasions when a 0-0 scoreline can be misleading, when magnificent defence has cancelled out some magnificent attacking rugby. But this wasn't the case.

Australia did defend well on occasions, especially in the first half when they denied France a certain try under the posts by scrambling back to hold up Gregory Tutard. But by that time France were already down to 14 men with Sebastian Bozzi sin-binned for intentionally killing the ball on the floor, something that set the tone for the rest of the game.

And France almost scored again on the stroke of half-time, but Jerome Bonvoisin was stopped just short, and as France pressed, they infringed on the floor once more to let Australia off the hook.

That though was as good as it got for the rest of the game, with the two sides fighting a war of attrition in the middle third of the field and neither ever seeming to come close to continuity.

Such was the desperate nature of the game that France even took the rather drastic decision to take a shot at goal when awarded a penalty within kicking distance, but it was missed by Cyril Schurer.

Level after normal time, the two sides still couldn't be separated after 20 minutes of extra-time, and when sudden death came and went with the score still 0-0, the game went to a shoot-out. In rugby that involves drop goals from the 22, right in front of the posts.

With each side having taken four kicks each, France and Australia were tied two apiece, and Bozzi stepped up to take his side's fifth kick, which he slotted straight down the middle. When Stuart Pinkerton missed his attempt, Bozzi was carried from the field by his team-mates, although it might have been more appropriate if they had left quietly apologising to the crowd as they went.

Thankfully the second game saw the Lions produce the kind of performance that they have been famous for in recent years, and they ran in five tries on their way to a convincing victory over the Eagles.

Lock Mark Cornwall began the scoring, benefitting from a textbook catch and drive from a lineout just inside the Americans' 22, and Chris Smith finished off a fine flowing move towards the end of the half to send the Lions in 10-0 up at half-time.

In between those two scores the Lions were camped inside the Eagles half, and only some impressive defence by the US, and Jack Wilfley and Andrew McNaughton in particular kept them in the game.

The US did threaten on occasions, with Louis Tulio and Roger Dana breaking clear a couple of times, but the moves invariably broke down against a well-organised Lions team that killed the threat before support could arrive.

After the break it was much the same, with Barry Williams crashing over on the blindside following some intense Lions pressure on the Eagles' line, and with Derek McAleese kicking the first conversion of the game, a 17-0 lead look unassailable.

That increased to 24-0 with the move of the game, as Derek Eves cut in from a sharp angle to take Mark Regan's pop pass and slice through the Eagles defence and under the posts.

Throughout the second half, Eagles kept plugging away and their determination was rewarded when a turnover inside their own half saw David Fee race clear down the right, beat the Lions defenders to a bouncing ball, hack it on, and touch down for the score.

Having converted Eves' try, David Scully grabbed one of his own, which he then converted to wrap up the scoring, and send the Lions through to Wednesday's semi-final.