Classic Lions 19 Argentina 12 The Classic Lions took another step towards retaining their World Rugby Classic title yesterday -- but they were pushed all the way by an Argentina team desperate to avenge last year's defeat in the final.

Tries by Welsh prop Ricky Evans, Ian Corcoran and a fine individual effort by Iwan Tukalo were enough to earn the Lions a meeting with either the All Blacks or Bermuda in Saturday's final.

But the Pumas enjoyed long periods of pressure and only stoic defending by the Lions close to their own line kept them at bay.

Skipper Gavin Hastings, who converted two of the Lions' tries, admitted afterwards it had been a tense encounter.

"There are going to be a few sore boys after today,'' he said. "But I just told the team at the end that we showed a lot of character.

"It's too easy when you've got the great surroundings here and the limited time that you have to not knuckle down as much as you should. But I couldn't fault the guys today.

"It was a really big effort and we deserved the game, I think. We played really well.'' There was little to choose between the teams in the first quarter of an hour, but it was the Lions who forced the first breakthrough.

Scrumhalf Jonathan Davies, skipper of the triumphant Lions side at last year's tournament, kicked for touch after the holders were awarded a penalty, dropping the ball close to the Argentinian line.

The Lions won the ensuing line-out with the force of the pack propelling Evans over to score before Hastings converted from far out on the right for a 7-0 lead.

Argentina, however, who succumbed 35-10 in last year's final, were not about to throw in the towel and it looked as though they might force a mirror image try when captain Rafael found touch on the Lions five metre line.

But the Lions' rearguard was similarly not about to give and the Pumas could find no way of breaching it -- much to Hastings' delight.

"I think that now defence is such a big part of rugby,'' he said. "It doesn't matter what level you're playing at, you still have to have a good defence and today I think that we managed to achieve that.

"And that was crucial to our victory because the Argentinians are very strong -- they're very fit too and play with a lot of pace.'' The Lions increased their lead two minutes before half-time as Ian Corcoran found space to go over in the corner.

Argentina finally found their way through after 38 minutes as Ricardo de Vedia pulled it back to 12-5. The normally reliable Madero missed a fairly straightforward conversion and before his side could inflict more damage, Tickalow broke clear on the left to restore the Lions' advantage.

Tickalow, capped 37 times on the wing by Scotland, chipped over an Argentinian and ran on to complete the touch down.

Six minutes later Argentina pulled it back to 19-12 when the pack proved too strong for the Lions' defence to set up a fascinating but ultimately scoreless final 15 minutes.

France 38 US 27 The French restored some pride after their first round mauling by Argentina to book a place in the final of the Plate competition against the winners of today's game between Canada and South Africa.

But they had to recover from 17-0 down after just 16 minutes as the US ran in tries through Shawn Lipman, Bill Pinkham, and Ray Nelson.

They responded with tries from wings Jacques Begu and Fabian Sella in the last three minutes of the first half before Dries Van Heerden, the No. 8 capped twice by his country, scored a hat-trick of tries in a remarkable five minutes shortly after the break.

Jean-Patrick Lescaboura completed a quartet of conversions before Yves Malquier added another try. Gary Putterman and Pat Bolger got late tries for the US.

PLEASE RELEASE ME -- Argentina's Sebastian Salvat feels the full force of a determined Lions defence during the countries' semi-final meeting in the World Rugby Classic yesterday.