The Commonwealth Games dream is finally over for Bermuda?s Rugby Sevens side.

A frustrating year of playing the waiting game has finally come to an end with the announcement that the Caribbean champions are not being given the prize they thought they?d earned, leaving the trip to Melbourne that was getting Bobby Hurdle?s team excited no longer on the horizon.

The Sevens side went down to Cayman last June with the knowledge that a victory in the regional tournament would yield them a place in the prestigious LA Sevens as well as a probable place in next year?s Games Down Under.

Bermuda recorded wins over St. Lucia, Guyana, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Trinidad & Tobago to claim the Caribbean trophy but the first blow came when the North American and West Indies Rugby Association (NAWIRA) decided they wanted to send a West Indies Select team to LA instead.

And the double whammy was completed when the International Rugby Board decided there was no place for the Bermudian minnows in Melbourne as they look to eradicate the one-sided games that blighted the 2002 Games in Manchester.

?I can?t say we were entirely surprised by the decision but it is certainly disappointing,? said Bermuda Rugby Football Union president Dave Worsfold.

?We were sort of getting the message by the way the IRB were giving us such curt responses to our requests for information.

?We were keen to find out as soon as possible whether we were going or not so we had plenty of time to play practice matches and tournaments but the flow of information was pretty poor.

?That gave us an idea what was going to happen which softened the blow when we found out although we would have expected the IRB to have had the decency of actually letting us know themselves.

?We have been very unhappy with the whole process and the way they have changed the goalposts. It would have been an incredible experience for our guys to go to Melbourne but that dream is over.?

Worsfold said, however, that he had hope for future Games following the decision by the International Olympic Committee not to admit the Sevens game into the 2012 Olympics in London.

?One of the reasons they didn?t want the smaller nations in the Commonwealth is that they were trying to impress the Olympic people,? added Worsfold.

?But now that has fallen through maybe they will again look to expand the international base for the Commonwealth.?

The IRB decided to allow only the top 16 nations into next year?s event, a decision that was communicated to the Bermuda Olympic Association only in the past three weeks.

Although there is no prize other than the Caribbean trophy itself, Bermuda will be competing again in the regional sevens competition this November and a 15-a-side team will be headed to Washington in October as part of the preparations for next year?s Caribbean full-size tournament.

The BRFU are also looking to expand their Easter Sevens tournament, which included two overseas teams this year, with invitations sent out to ten teams from Europe and North America for next year?s event.