to be seen if the underdogs can deliver an upset in tonight's World Rugby Classic action at National Sports Club.

The 7.00 o'clock opener between two losing teams, United States and Canada, could be closely contested, but the real interest centres on the 8.15 clash between England and five-time champions New Zealand.

England looked good in their 26-10 victory over Argentina on Sunday, but their opponents this time are far more formidable as indicated by the All Blacks' 40-10 mauling of Canada in their opening clash on Sunday.

But despite the fact that the Kiwis are firm favourites to repeat as champions, flanker Bruce Middleton insists they won't take any opponents for granted -- obviously mindful of their defeat by the Barbarians two years ago which accounted for their only failure since becoming involved in the tournament.

"England are a very competitive side with a big forward pack. I think they are also a good all-round side. Yes, I expect them to be competitive just like I expect any other team in the competition to be,'' said Middleton yesterday.

"We are well aware that in order to reach the final you've got to win which means we must win against England. The size of their forward pack means we will have to work harder at the line-out time in order to stay in the game.'' Although the All Blacks won by a comfortable margin in the first match, Middleton argued that Canada were no pushovers and remained competitive until the very end.

"Despite the score they were very competitive and never gave up the whole day. They played a disruptive type of game that kept us on our toes and it wasn't an easy game for us at all,'' he said.

The All Blacks were able to size up the Barbarians on Monday and it's obvious they won't be taking them lightly should they eventually tangle in Saturday's final.

Middleton said he considered the Barbarians "a very complete all-round side.'' "I really feel that they are a better all-round side than they were in 1993,'' he declared.

The winners of tonight's opening game will go into Saturday's third-place play-off match against either Argentina or Bermuda who meet tomorrow night.

And winners of the England-New Zealand encounter go through to the final to meet either South Africa or the Barbarians who also clash tomorrow.

TOUGH CUSTOMER -- New Zealand No.8 Alan Dawson (right) will be hoping to play his part in securing a place in the final for the All Blacks as they take on England at National Sports Club this evening.