Felipe Contepomi, the Argentina inside centre, played an instrumental role in his side’s 28-14 victory against Canada in the World Rugby Classic at North Field, National Sports Centre, yesterday.

Contepomi, who is making his Classic debut, had a hand in two of his side’s four tries and also kicked a pair of conversions to set up a semi-final clash with New Zealand on Thursday.

The All Blacks, returning to the Classic for the first time since 2011, defeated France 17-0 in a drab encounter in yesterday’s other game. France will now meet Canada in Thursday’s Plate semi-final.

Argentina, who are gunning for the third Classic title, having won in 1999 and 2011, found themselves trailing 7-0 after eight minutes when Derek Daypuck, the Canada fly half, breached their defence for a try which he then converted.

Canada’s lead did not last long, however, with Argentina striking back through full back Bernado Stortini, who forced his way over the line on 11 minutes, with Federico Todeschini kicking the conversion to draw level.

Contepomi, who played like man younger than his 37 years, then showed some of his trademark quality with ball in hand and coolness under pressure, to carve open the Canada defence before passing to Julio Brolese to score.

Todeschini, who along with Contepomi was part of the Argentina side that famously defeated England 25-18 at Twickenham in 2005, added his second conversion to hand Argentina the lead.

Canada were showing plenty of appetite for the battle and pulled level on 15 minutes through scrum half Morgan Williams with a try between the posts, which Daypuck converted to make it 14-14 at the interval.

After the break, Contepomi again sprinkled some stardust on proceedings with a neat side pass for Maximiliano Nannini to give Argentina a lead that they never lost. Just for good measure, Contepomi stepped up to kick the conversion.

Argentina always appeared to have more weapons in their armoury than Canada and pulled further ahead when Lucas Borges, the Argentina wing, completed the scoring in the final minute, with Contepomi kicking his second conversion.

Contepomi admitted that it was far from a vintage performance by Argentina but believed that his team were capable of reaching the final.

“It wasn’t a great team performance and it’s always tough to play against Canada because they are always fitter than us and play with passion,” said Contepomi, whose country lost to South Africa 14-7 in last year’s final.

“At least we had a win and the team sticked together.

“Hopefully we can play in the final this year, that would be a great achievement for us.”

The former Toulon and Stade Français player said that he was thrilled to be playing in his maiden Classic, which he believed epitomises everything he loves about the game.

“I think it’s a great tournament because it keeps alive the things I like about rugby — the spirit of rugby,” he said. “With rugby turning really professional, it’s important to keep these values at the base of our sport. I think it’s marvellous and I’m delighted to have the chance to play here.”

New Zealand also secured their safe passage to the last four with an ugly win over France, a match that Andy Haden, the All Blacks coach, described as “terrible”.

Scott Ireland latched on to a perfectly weighted cross-field kick to open the scoring towards the end of a dour first half, which failed to ignite in any way, shape, or form.

In the second half, the All Blacks extended their lead through Charlie Hore, the fly half, who powered through the middle for a try converted by William Walker.

New Zealand were reduced to 14 men when Dustin Watts was sin-binned after exchanging blows with a French player, but still managed to add a third try in the final minute when Bruce Reihana, who missed an earlier conversion, broke loose through the middle.

“I think the commentator had it right — it was terrible,” Haden said.

“But I suppose that’s as bad as we can play and we’ll need to pick up our game to be in with even a chance [against Argentina].

“Our handling was shocking. Our defence wasn’t too bad and our tackling was quite good. We’ve got some skills there but we just didn’t see them.”