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The Bermuda Onions Rugby Football Club will once again pull on their famous pink jerseys for a series of rugby games this Sunday against "The Limeys" at the National Sports Centre North Field. Over the years, this has become the most anticipated date on the fixture list as the native Bermudians look to get stuck into their overseas teammates.

The all-Bermudian rugby club continues to flourish and fields strong sides across all age groups, heralding an exciting set on Sunday which will see each mini-rugby age group play, followed by Ladies and then Men's teams.

With its focus on youth development, the Onions have this year added an U16 team to its ranks, which also consist of U10, U12 and U14 age groups. These teams competed in several international tournaments in the last year and are currently preparing to represent Bermuda at the Conyers Youth Cup in Cayman in May 2010.

This year will also see the Onions sponsor an U19 player to train at Swansea, one of the top Welsh clubs. To put this into context, it is like sending a young Bermudian football player off to train with the likes of Liverpool or Chelsea.

While it emphasises youth development, the Onions enables Bermudians of all ages to play representative rugby, and this Sunday's Mens team will consist of a 24-strong player squad, all of whom are 1st and 2nd team players from our four local rugby clubs.

Players include the national team captain, Derek Hurdle, several other national team players, U19 players old boys. The Onions are captained this year by Thomas Edwards of Police RFC, assisted by Tommy "The Tank" Greenslade of Teachers RFC. This will be great preparation for the full IRB sanctioned international that the Mens team will compete against the Cayman national team in May.

The Ladies team also comprises a squad made from players across all 4 clubs and includes former national team players.

Bermuda Onions Vice President Ross Webber commented: "Sunday's games will see Bermudian-born rugby players compete against the Limeys. The Limeys team was originally a collection of English players, but there is usually a generous sprinkling of players of non-English heritage which is testament to the quality of the Bermudian players.

"These games tend to be played in an open 'festival' style and we are hoping for the same this weekend. We are very proud of what the Onions club has achieved over the decades. The club plays a great role in developing young Bermudians, enabling them to come together to represent Bermuda."

The games take place Sunday March 14th at the National Sports Centre North Field: U10 at 10:30, U12 at 11:00, U14 at 12:00; U16 at 1:10. This will be followed by a ladies game at 2pm and a men's game at 3pm. Admission at the games is free.

Conyers Dill & Pearman is the major sponsor of the Onions rugby club with other sponsors including ACE, C-Mart, Gray & Co and ASW.

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