Charles Hore kicked the All Blacks into the final of the World Rugby Classic at the National Sports Centre last night.

The fly half's conversions made the difference as the defending champions eaked out a narrow 19-17 win over Australia in a thrilling semi-final –encounter that could have gone either way.

And the All Blacks had to be at their very best as they –recovered from going behind twice to beat a Wallabies side that fought them all the way.

With Daniel Many, David Croft and Mark Connors tackling themselves to a standstill, and Chris O'Young and Brett Stapleton pulling the strings in the backs, there could have been no complaints if Australia had won last night instead.

Stapleton gave his side the perfect start with less than three minutes gone when he latched on to a O'Young grubber kick following some fine work at the breakdown that saw the Wallabies turn the ball over inside the All Blacks 22.

Nick Reily missed the conversion though, and in the end, it proved costly.

The All Blacks hit straight back , and following a spell of sustained pressure, hooker Scott Linklater burrowed his way towards the line, the ball was recycled, and Blair Cook dove over for the first of his two tries. Hore converted, and the All Blacks should have pushed on from there.

However, Australia had other ideas and from the re-start they forced another turn over, and Stapleton danced his way through the Kiwi defence for his second score of the night. As with the first try however, the conversion was missed and a seven point gap, was only three.

Unforced errors, and big hits, from both sides ruled the remainder of the first half, although Australia did get a let off when Croft managed to just drag All Blacks winger Shane Stephens into touch inches from the try line moments before the break.

The defending champions stepped up a gear after half time, and they went in front almost immediately.

Skipper Deon Muir claimed the ball from the re-start, Justin Marshall slipped a pass to Keith Lowen to crash up the middle, he offloaded to Tony Marsh who slipped a tackle before sending prop Hayden Scown in under the posts.

Hore's conversion was a formality, and at 14-10 up, the lead was one the All Blacks then never lost.

Things might have been different if one of Australia's unforced errors hadn't cost them a try.

Following some back and forth in the New Zealand 22, when both sides turned the ball over, or knocked it on, several times, Australia finally took advantage of an attacking lineout.

The Wallabies secured good ball, O'Young worked it towards the middle of the pitch, Sam Harris chipped it through the defence, only for Nathan Williams to make a mess of touching it down, and instead he knocked it on under the posts.

Australia spent the next ten minutes camped in the All Blacks half, but they could not find away through, and it seemed somewhat inevitable that the Kiwis would make them pay.

They did when some good work by Linklater on a rare foray forward sent Cook over for his second try, and even though Hore missed the conversion, the All Blacks seemed to have wrapped things up.

Australia though are not the same side that they were last year, and they had some invention in their backs that has been missing in recent times.

They bagged a third try when Stapleton led a break away from inside his own half, and even though he was caught inches from the line, the move stayed alive long enough for Croft to burrow over. Reily added the extras and at 17-19 down, with five minutes left, the game was still there for the taking.

The All Blacks though shut up shop, and Muir, Scott Robertson, and John Tanui led a forward effort that was just too much for Australia to overcome.

New Zealand will now face South Africa in tomorrow's final after the Springboks beat the Lions 14-12 in an equally close affair on Wednesday night.

Last night's other encounter was less of a rugby match and more of a brawl with some tries thrown in for good measure.

Neither side came away with much credit and the red card issued to Eric Leconte for the headbutt that splattered Leonardo Roldan's nose all over his face was the final act in a rather disappointing display from both teams.

For the record, Argentina won the game 21-14 with tries from Murgier, Roberto Grau and Leandro Lobrauco, all of which Murgier converted.

When they weren't fighting, France didn't look bad either, and converted tries from Luc Lafforgues and Gregory Tutard kept them in the game.

Argentina will now play USA in tomorrow's Plate final after the Classic Eagles saw off Canada 21-17 on Wednesday night.