Argentina Legends signalled their intent to defend their World Rugby Classic title with a bonus-point 35-8 victory over Italian Classic XV at North Field, National Sports Centre, on Saturday night.

On paper it looked like a comfortable win for the champions, but the scoreline told only part of the story. For long stretches, particularly in the first half, Italy made life extremely uncomfortable for the holders and threatened to turn the opening night of the tournament on its head.

The Italians defended with real passion, attacked the breakdown with intent and forced Argentina into a string of unforced errors that kept the contest far tighter than many had expected.

Argentina eventually found their rhythm and once they did, their class showed. Agustín Migliore scored a brace of tries, with his efforts complemented by a try each from Jose Correa and Nicolas Fernandez.

Augusto Guillamondegui kicked two conversions and one penalty goal, while Pablo Villar added two penalties and a conversion to complete a convincing win for the South Americans. Italy got their points from a try and a penalty.

Argentina captain Federico Castilla felt Italy gave them a real battle in the opening half before the champions finished strongly. After leading Los Pumas to their seventh title last year, Castilla’s calm influence proved vital when the game was still in the balance.

“It was a really tough match because this is a new team and we are still getting to know each other,” Castilla told The Royal Gazette.

“Italy played hard. The first half had a lot of mistakes, but in the last ten minutes we tried to defend, recover the ball and counter-attack.

“We now get some rest and prepare to play France on Tuesday. We will try our best to defend our title, but we always humble ourselves and take it step by step.”

In the opening match of the competition, Classic Canada also secured a bonus point after recording a 39-5 triumph over Classic Eagles. Canada outscored the Americans by seven tries to one in a performance full of pace, power and precision.

From the opening whistle, they played with width and ambition, stretching the Eagles defence with pace on the wings and punishing every turnover.

Fly-half Aaron McLelland, who was a marvel to watch for the Canadians with his burst of speed to notch two tries, stressed that they were chasing their maiden title at the Classic.

“I think the boys performed really well tonight,” McLelland said.

“Obviously, when we play the USA, there’s always going to be a bit of a grudge match. I think the scoreline favoured us a little bit because the USA put up a good fight.

“We’ve been building all week. We got here on Thursday, settled in and then found our feet in training.

“We got a couple of lucky tries but we’re trying to build. We come here every year and we’re trying to win the tournament this year. Canada’s never won it, so that’s a great goal for us.

“We’ve got the Lions on Wednesday so we’ll be watching them on Sunday when they play their first game.”