The All Blacks danced in the rain with almost as much style and panache as actor Gene Kelly yesterday afternoon and afterwards were joyfully singing the praises of a fifth consecutive trip to the World Rugby Classic final on Sunday.

New Zealand delivered a solid 45-5 thumping of Bermuda at National Sports Club, keeping their now familiar date in the final, but this time against the Classic Barbarians.

Perhaps the only people busier than Bermuda defenders were the two boys working the scoreboard -- Andrew Borland and Alex Dale -- whose arms and hands were kept in a constant flurry by score changes.

The All Blacks erupted for six unanswered tries in the first half to build a 30-0 lead and effectively seal Bermuda's fate early in the game. Flanker Leicester Rutledge scored a pair of tries in the first six minutes, followed by two more from full-back Robbie Deans, all coming in a span of just 20 minutes.

That was followed by two more New Zealand scores, from wing Robert Kuurangi and number eight Alan Dawson.

Kuurangi, who scored another try in the second half and is playing in his first Classic, joked afterwards that, "I saw a Dark and Stormy under the goal-post so that's why I went in.

"Seriously, though, I was hardly touched and that's the way I like to score tries.'' The All Blacks seized on the brilliant momentum they had built in the first half early in the second frame by scoring two quick tries from hooker Bruce Hemera, his second of the round robin, and Kuurangi. Dawson chipped in with his second try of the game with roughly 10 minutes remaining in the clash to round out the New Zealand scoring.

Despite the one-sided affair, Bermuda played gritty ball in the second half, with number eight Ali Nicoll twice being denied near the try line, followed by a nifty run and scoring threat from Dave Taylor and Richard Raistrick.

The locals finally got on the scoreboard three minutes after the All Blacks' final score, when centre Tom Dickson chugged in untouched.

"It was marvellous,'' said Roy Dunn later, not at all disappointed by the rout. "You play these standards and you're playing the best side in the world, no doubt about it. This side would stand well against many first-class sides of the world.

"The guys had terrific spirit. The last 20 minutes we gave as good as we took. Every time we got the ball we tried to attack and we did and we got one try at the end.'' The estimated crowd of 1,000 fans never gave up and cheered Bermuda on, even with the score at 45-0.

Bermuda, with a round-robin record of 0-2, will now play Australia on Sunday in the battle of the last-place teams in the two divisions.

All Black titan Andy Haden, meantime, will be suiting up for his fifth finals appearance.

"We're up to it,'' he said. "We don't ever come here not to do our best. We think we'd be cheating the public if we didn't do our best.'' Bermuda, however, could console themselves with a resounding 22-7 triumph over The Rest in the first game of the day.

Led by Andrew Correia, who scored a try in the second half, the Onions peeled away at a squad who were bigger, but not necessarily better. Other tries were scored by Andre Simons (two) and Sean Field with fan favourite Patrick Jones supplying the conversion. Wade Tihema scored the lone try for The Rest with Gavin Corcoran adding the conversion.

England 10, Australia 10 With mere seconds remaining in the game, Andy McIntyre bulldozed his way through the try line -- surrounded by a clutch of English players hanging on to his mud-caked jersey -- as Australia staved off the embarrassment of finishing the round-robin winless, settling for a hard-fought and nail-biting 10-10 draw with England.

But the tie was not good enough to lift the Wallabies into the Plate Final, with England benefitting from scoring 28 points in their two games while Australia were held scoreless in their opener on Tuesday, a 25-0 drubbing from the Classic Barbarians.

There was confusion in the Australian dressing room after the match because of an announcement that they were the ones heading to the Plate Final, instead of England. While some players congratulated each other, some were busy doing quick arithmetic proving the numbers just did not add up.

So England will now face the United States in Sunday's battle of second-place teams from the two divisions.

Sparked by a pair of tries from wing Mike Harrison, including his second-half score midway in the frame, it appeared as though England were going to hand the Aussies their second consecutive loss.

And there was almost an audible sigh of relief from the Wallabies when they finally got their first try of the tournament from Ray Lambie, 10 minutes after Harrison's score in the first half.

"We were feeling pretty bad,'' admitted McIntyre. "Before that, yeah, we were worried. I mean we were looking at two losses and that hasn't happened to us before. So it's a good result. I think we cut it a bit fine, though.'' McIntyre cited a sloppy field due to the driving rain as one of the reasons why the Wallabies had trouble putting up more points on the scoreboard.

"I don't think the wet weather suits us too well,'' he said. "We have the drier, higher grounds back home where the field conditions are sort of a bit better than this. It was pretty greasy.'' England, meantime, did not mind playing in the rain, supported by a spirited crowd that was clearly behind them.

"What rain, I didn't see it,'' chirped Harrison with a smile, his white uniform turned slate gray like the sky.

"It was a good, hard game with two very evenly-balanced teams,'' he added.

"Australia came back, they stuck at it.'' Harrison, who underscored his contribution, said that "it was nice to get some passes and I just bobbed over in the corner. I just saw the line and I told myself to go for it.

"But the rest of the team played well. It was a lot different from Sunday. We were a bit more determined. We wanted to put on a bit more of a show.'' England were obviously disappointed about not returning to the Classic Final, the first time in two years they will not be participating. They were held to four tries in the two games, compared to New Zealand and the Classic Barbarians, who had 12 and seven respectively.

CLAMP-ING DOWN -- Mike Clamp races down the field with the ball while Robert Kuurangi, left, who scored two tries in the game, keeps a close eye on him.