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There was no local rugby action at the weekend as both the men's and women's national 7's team were competing in the Bahamas in the World Cup qualifiers. With both the U.S. and Canada competing, and the top two teams qualifying for the World Cup 7's, it was going to be a mammoth task for the Bermuda sides to qualify. It was also the first time the women's team had competed on the international stage so this was a massive tournament for local rugby.

Bermuda 10, Mexico 5

The men's opened their campaign against Mexico and came out on top in a fiercely contested encounter by 10-5. The significance and brilliance of this win can be taken from the fact that Mexico had defeated a combined West Indies squad earlier in the year. Mexico had led at half time 5-0 but after the break, Bermuda dominated. Jack Ellison and Tom Edwards both crossed the whitewash to put Bermuda ahead, and they controlled the rest of the match to secure a vital victory. The U.S. then trounced Mexico 52-0 to guarantee Bermuda a place in the second phase. The U.S. Bermuda match would then decide the group winners.

U.S. 31, Bermuda 0

The U.S. are one of the elite 7's teams in world rugby and were overwhelming favourites to rack up a big win. Bermuda were superb however and the U.S. were only leading 7-0 at the half, and certainly looked shaken by the excellent performance from the brave Bermudian side. Early in the second half, a sin-binning for Bermuda left the U.S. with an extra man, and the more experienced Americans exploited the space. They ran out 31-0 victors in the end but were given a mighty scare.

While Bermuda's coach Lawrence Bird was immensely proud of his team, U.S. coach Al Caravelli gave full credit to Bermuda. "To Bermuda's credit, they threw us off our game plan in that first half," he said.

Bermuda 17, Cayman 0

On Sunday, Bermuda opened with a fantastic 17-0 victory over rivals Cayman. Captain Bobby Hurdle scored two tries and Ellison grabbed a third, with Chris Naylor knocking over one conversion. It was a great team effort and set them up with a match against Canada, another one of the top 7's teams in the world. The physical and mental exertions began to take their toll and Canada won comfortably 42-0. Bermuda were now in the semi-final, only one win away from qualifying for the World Cup, but the might of the U.S. stood in the way.

The U.S. were never going to take Bermuda lightly after the hard encounter the previous day and ran away with a big win in the end. So the World Cup dream was over, but the team had one final match as they looked to dethrone reigning Caribbean champions Guyana in the Caribbean Championship decider.

Guyana 42, Bermuda 0

Guyana had six of the West Indies 7's squad on their team, and were favourites to defend their crown. The huge efforts of the Bermuda side had taken it out of them and Guyana won 42-0, to leave Bermuda as the second ranked team in the Caribbean in 7's. It was an incredible effort over the two days, and Tom Healy and Ellison have both been rewarded for their performance by being included in the West Indies training squad for the prestigious Hong Kong 7's.

Women

The ladies were placed in a group with the U.S., Guyana and Trinidad & Tobago, with the USA as one of the top ladies teams in the world and the other two established at the top of the Caribbean nations. It was a huge task in their first ever international matches to come up against these sides, and the lack of experience told as they succumbed to a 0-45 defeat to the U.S. They fell 7-41 to eventual Caribbean champions Guyana and 0-36 to Trinidad & Tobago in their final two games to end up having to play Canada on Sunday in the quarter finals.

Canada, who were to go on and win the qualifiers outright, were too strong for the constantly improving Bermuda side, the final score of 34-0 reflecting a great performance for the island girls. This placed them in the bowl semi-final against hosts Barbados. The Bermuda girls were magnificent and a wonderful try from Melissa Field put them 5-0 ahead. Barbados brought it level with a try of their own, but Field again stormed down the wing to put the girls in blue back ahead. Right at the death, Barbados snatched a try to bring the game to overtime but Bermuda grabbed the crucial score to win 15-10, their historic first ever international victory. It was a momentous performance and a fully deserved win for a game they dominated. The final of the bowl proved a bridge too far, as tiredness took over and Jamaica won comfortably.

All in all it was a very successful tournament for the Bermuda sides.

Local action returns on Saturday at Malabar with Renegades against Teachers and Police playing Mariners in both mens and womens.

Gary Brady is the public relations officer for the Bermuda Rugby Football Union.[[In-content Ad]]

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