Bermuda 5 New Zealand 15 In the end there was to be no repeat of Bermuda's heroic giantkilling of South Africa.

But there was enough in this ferocious battle at a highly-charged National Sports Club last night to suggest that Island rugby is on its way -- a point not lost on All Blacks skipper Jock Ross.

After relentless pressure from the home team in the last 15 minutes had resulted in Sean Field-Lament's try in the corner seconds before the end, Ross was happy to admit: "Quite frankly, we're pleased to get out with a win.'' Ross added: "It's a great day for Bermudian rugby. We played these guys about ten years ago and beat them by I don't know how many -- 60 or 70 points -- and they've come a long way since then.

"They seem like a team who play together quite a bit and we were a bit ragged. But we weren't really surprised by how tough the game was. We knew these guys would be coming at us hammer and tongs.

"They had a great game against South Africa the other evening. They're good hard physical guys and they came here to play.'' Physical a game though it was, that element of the contest should not be overstated. More, it was the result of two sides totally committed to getting through to a final against the Classic Lions.

There were victims on both sides: Bermuda's try-scoring hero against South Africa, Alvin Harvey, had to disappear to the tent for running repairs to a cut above the eye and spent the whole of the second half with a bandage round his head while, more seriously, a shuddering tackle on Richard Dunn left the Auckland player needing hospital treatment for a suspect dislocated shoulder.

Bermuda had a great opportunity to open the scoring when after seven minutes, Greg Lunn took advantage of New Zealand mishandling in the Bermuda half to break away. A try seemed inevitable as he raced away with only one opponent in front of him and Police's Alan Oliver offering him support on his left.

But with the crowd willing the pass, Lunn seemingly lost concentration, ran into the defender and the chance was lost.

Eight minutes later, the Island team was to rue the missed opportunity as lock Gary Braid burst through to score after a well-worked move from a New Zealand penalty.

The All Blacks extended their lead with two tries rolled over by Steve Hotton in the first ten minutes of the second half.

But Bermuda refused to buckle and spent most of the remainder of the match camped in their opponents' half. The All Blacks were forced to defend desperately as penalty after penalty came Bermuda's way.

There were a couple of false alarms before Field-Lament brought the crowd off the benches with his late score.

Afterwards, Bermuda skipper Dave Lunn praised his team and coach Pete Shillingford.

"I think we showed Bermuda has some ability,'' he said. "We've worked very hard for this. I can't say enough about the time and energy our guys have volunteered. We started way back in early June, three days a week -- and that's a lot of commitment for most people.

"I'd like to thank our coach for raising our game significantly. We've been down and won the Caribbean championships and we've been able to come back here and really give our crowd something to cheer about.'' Lunn also gave an insight into the challenge a team with the ability and experience of the All Blacks presented.

"Their rolling maul is second-to-none,'' he said. "And their ball retention was probably about 20 percent better than ours.

"We had a lot of pressure but it's very difficult to convert against a well organised side.

"They didn't give us that many clean opportunities. The one we really had we took.

"Otherwise their tackling in the centre was very good, they were up very fast, whereas against South Africa we had more room.

"They have also had the benefit of watching us play, which South Africa didn't, so South Africa didn't really know what to expect.

"But I think the All Blacks have picked up that we've improved a lot.'' Canada 36 South Africa 14 Canada scored six tries to send South Africa away from the Rugby Classic empty-handed and ensure a Plate final against France on Saturday.

Spencer Robinson, John Turpin, Tony McGann, Gordon McKinnon, Paul Monaghan and Kevin Worachowski all went over in last night's opening fixture.

South Africa replied with tries from wing Baba Nolokwe and scrumhalf Ronnie Korkee.