Bermuda were comfortably beaten by USA South in Atlanta on Saturday, although to brand the 38-5 loss a disaster would be to miss the point of the exercise.

Victory was never a realistic expectation and from a coaching perspective there was enough to give Roedolf van der Westhuizen confidence in the future.

Camren Caines, Calum Maule and Aldon Campbell all had good first games for the senior team, while the move towards a more expansive attacking game plan bore some fruit.

Which is not to say that everything was fine.

There were tackles missed, the scrum was inconsistent at best, and Bermuda appeared disjointed defensively, while the lack of pace on the wings was cruelly exposed by USA.

In attack, the closest Bermuda got to the home side was when Conor McGlynn barged over from a yard out to reduce the score to 12-5. The margin of victory might have been greater still, but the USA butchered a couple of try scoring opportunities.

“There is improvement to be made,” Van der Westhuizen, the Bermuda coach, said. “We’re getting better, although realistically we won’t be competitive until next season.”

Still, Van der Westhuizen, who made his first start at No 8 for Bermuda on Saturday, felt there was reason for optimism.

“We said beforehand that we didn’t mind too much if we got beaten for pace on the outside, we kind of expected it, but we did not want to have people run over us,” he said. “For the most part I think we achieved that. I thought our first up tackling was good, but we obviously still have improvements to make defensively.”

After the 38-5 defeat, Bermuda and USA played another 20 minute game, during which Bermuda ran in three tries, through Jahan Cedenio, Aidan Mills and Mike Halbert, without conceding again.

“In terms of our attacking game plan we’re 60 per cent from being perfect, but it gave us something to work on,” Van der Westhuizen said. “What was positive was that the game plan worked and we had enough in the tank fitness-wise to keep our concentration and execute our plan.”

Bermuda now have a couple of weeks before beginning their Rugby Americas North Championship campaign away to Mexico on May 21.