The Lions made clear their intention of winning a third successive World Rugby Classic title with an emphatic victory over Bermuda in the tournament's opening match on Wednesday night.

Although there was no doubting the home side's commitment, they were simply overpowered by an uncomprising Lions pack with decades of top-level experience.

Former Welsh international flanker Mark Perego scored a hat-trick of tries, as the British forwards dominated in the scrummages and even more so in the lineouts.

For Bermuda, there was to be no repeat of last year's first-round giant-killing heroics, when they defeated South Africa, and they stuck to their task well. But when they made mistakes they were consistently punished.

The Island side scored what was arguably the try of the match when Renegades winger Colin Targett burst down the right wing and went over in the corner to cap a fine move.

It was only in the last 10 minutes, when the visitors scored three of their seven tries, that the game really got away from Bermuda.

Lions skipper and scrumhalf, the former Welsh international Jonathan Griffiths, admitted the game had been more of a challenge for the defending champions than the scoreline might suggest.

"We knew it would be a tough game and it was,'' said Griffiths, who is playing in his fourth Classic.

"Bermuda are like a good club side who play together a lot, and they have a few good youngsters. And with the crowd behind them, they are keen to give an impressive performance.

"Our game plan was to get a few points on the board early on and get control of the match quickly.'' Griffiths said there were only three or four members of the Lions team who still played rugby regularly -- himself included.

"The guys who don't play now, I don't know how they do it. But the advantage we had was a lot of experienced players who can play the game tight and frustrate the opponents.'' Griffiths hinted that the Lions had their eye on equalling a record.

"We have done really well and won the last two years and we can do it again.

I think only New Zealand have won the Classic three times in a row.'' Bermuda forward Bobby Hurdle felt his side had made a decent fight of it.

"We had a couple of mishaps early on, but the guys played hard until the end and I don't think the scoreline reflected the game at all,'' said Hurdle.

"But playing against these guys is good preparation for the Caribbean Championships in the Caymans at the end of the month. Hopefully, we'll be a well oiled machine by then.

"I think the Classic is a lot more competitive than it used to be. There is a lot of pride at stake and you could see that in the hard tackling, rucking and mauling.'' Former Welsh international flyhalf and Great Britain rugby league star Jonathan Davies backed up Hurdle's last comment.

Clearly exhausted after tramping off the field, Davies said: "I was surprised by how competitive it was. I thought this was supposed to be a fun tournament!'' In tomorrow's semi-final (kick-off 3.30 p.m.), the Lions will meet Argentina who edged South Africa 26-19 in Wednesday's second match.

The Pumas gave a thrilling display of fast running rugby, flair and inventiveness to race in to a 26-0 half-time lead.

After a tight first quarter, Pumas fullback Alejandro Scolni went over in the corner to open the scoring and a similar try five minutes later by centre Diego Cuesta Silva gave Argentina a 12-0 advantage.

As their confidence grew, the Pumas' terrific handling at pace simply got better, with the ball flying around through hands like a hot potato.

Two more tries, from pacey winger Cristian Mendy and Guillermo Valessani, in a breathtaking spell just before half-time seemed to leave the Springboks dead and buried.

But the South Africans salvaged some pride with a remarkable late fightback which produced three tries in the last 10 minutes and brought them within a score of levelling the match.

South Africa must now face Bermuda in tomorrow's Plate semi-final (kick-off 2 p.m.), which precedes what promises to be a fascinating Lions/Pumas clash.