The All Blacks, the defending World Rugby Classic champions, were less than impressive against a bellicose Italy in their 12-6 win at the North Field, National Sports Centre, last night.

Uncharacteristically sloppy in possession and devoid of attacking brio, the All Blacks were very nearly on the receiving end of the one of the biggest upsets in the competition’s 28-year history.

After a truly uninspiring first half, it was Italy, the perennial whipping boys, who took a surprise lead in the 33rd minute through Ramiro Pez’s drop goal.

Still the All Blacks, who defeated the Classic Lions in last year’s final 17-3, failed to come alive and found themselves further in arrears when Pez kicked a penalty to open up a six-point lead.

Slowly but surely, the All Blacks started to live up to their reputation and finally breached Italy’s dogged defence nine minutes from time, Johnny Weslow powering over the line and Brendan Laney converting to give his side the lead.

The All Blacks made sure of victory late on when Kelvin Middleton crashed home for his team’s second try to make it 12-6. Charles Hore missed the ensuing conversion but there was little time for Italy to mount another attack.

Andy Haden, the All Blacks manager, was far from happy and said he expected far more from players wearing shirts carrying the iconic silver fern.

“We’ve got a bit of work to do, haven’t we,” Haden said. “If you play that badly and can’t hold the ball, you buy a lot of problems for yourself.

“We showed some character to get the win, though, and that was the good part. I expected a lot better than that and I hope we take a good look at ourselves.

“The Italians could have easily won that one and I’ll have a word or two with the guys tonight.”

In the opening game of the night, the Classic Springboks made a winning start with a hard-fought 24-12 win over the Classic Eagles.

Egon Seconds, the Springboks wing, opened the scoring in the fourth minute with Monty Drummond kicking the extra points. The Classic Eagles were soon on level terms, though, with Louis Tulio weaving his way through a horde of bodies to score. Ata Malifa missed the extra points, kicking into the wind.

Come Steenkamp restored his Springboks’ advantage with a try after 24 minutes, but Bolla Conrade missed the conversion to leave the score at 12-7.

Another eye-catching try from the lively Tulio pulled the scores level minutes later, although the Eagles were unable to pull ahead with Malifa again missing the conversion.

After the interval, the Springboks’ extra quality started to show with JN Nel and Nico Breedt both adding tries to secure their side’s safe passage into the semi-finals.

The Springboks will now meet the All Blacks in the final four tomorrow night.

Roedolf van der Westhuizen, the Bermuda coach, is turning out for the Springboks for the fifth time at the classic. He said he believed this year’s crop had sufficient quality to make a claim for the title.

“It’s a rare opportunity for me to play [for the Springboks] once a year,” said Van der Westhuizen, who represented South Africa at the under-18 and under-20 level.

“We made a lot of mistakes and kept them in the game longer than we should have.

“It was a good result in the end. Many of the boys haven’t played for months or even years.

“Hopefully we can go all the way. You never play to lose.”