Argentina and South Africa both secured a safe passage to the next round of the World Rugby Classic with convincing wins at the National Sports Centre on Saturday night.Defending champions Argentina sent out an ominous warning to their rivals with a comfortable 26-12 victory over France while a star-studded South Africa lived up to their billing as pre-tournament favourites with a 43-10 demolition of USA.The Classic Pumas, who will meet the Springboks in a mouthwatering semi-final tomorrow stunned the French early on when Leondro Lobrauco crashed over the line for a try that Federico Todeschini converted.Livewire lock forward Juan Campero then extended Argentina’s lead, bursting through France’s surprising brittle defence on 19 minutes with Todeschini again booting the conversion.Despite having the wind against them in the second period, Argentina continued to fling the ball around with the attacking élan normally associated with the French and added a third try through the inspirational Campero.Todeschini, ever reliable with the boot, made no mistake with his kick to leave the shell-shocked French looking dead and buried with the score 14-0 at the break.Nicholas Couttet did launch a mini-fightback for Les Bleus on 49 minutes when he capped off a slick-passing move, although fly half Cedric Rosalen failed to add the extra point from the conversion.The lively Couttet then turned provider when he slalomed through France’s defence before releasing Olivier Otondo for France’s second try with Frank Comda converting to reduce the deficit.Fittingly, Argentina had the final say, though, when Lucas Borges finished off a fine move down the right wing for his side’s fourth try of the game.Argentina’s manager, Rodolfo Ventura, said: “The first game is always very difficult and you have to find your rhythm.“I think we had a good game and played very well during the first half when the wind was behind us. We need to work on our defence a little bit, but we’re really happy with our first performance. We will take confidence from this victory and it was good to see the things we tried come off for us.”South Africa also made a flying start in their match against a bellicose USA with a try from Win Meyer that Percy Montgomery converted with his dependable left foot.Boasting more than 300 caps, South Africa were always going to possess far too much know-how for the Eagles and seemed capable of scoring at will.However, the USA, famed for their never-say-die spirit, fought back with a try from Kregg Hyer although John Buchholz missed with the conversion.The Springboks responded almost immediately when the legendary Bobby Skinstad released Norman Jordaan who burst home for his team’s third try of the half.Montgomery, still sporting his instantly recognisable wavy golden locks, made no mistake with the conversion, and then marked his Classic debut with a try that he also kicked home to extend the lead to 21-5 at the interval.After half-time the Springboks stepped up a gear with further tries from Jake Boer, Marc Watson (2) and AJ Venter, although USA did manage a late consolation try through Louis Tulio.South Africa coach Pieter Muller admitted he didn’t expect anything less than an all-action display from his “quality bunch” of players but expects a much tougher test against the Pumas.“We retained possession, our running lines were brilliant and although we were a little rusty we stuck to the basics,” he said.“This win gives us the momentum for our next game but we know we will have our work cut out against Argentina, the defending champions.”