In, out and in again - no not the `hokey, cokey' but Bermuda's involvement in the World Rugby Classic.

First the Island's national team were involved in the main part of the annual tournament, which begins at the National Sports Centre this weekend, then they were moved out to make way for the arrival of the Italians.

Just weeks ago Italy announced they weren't coming but organisers, ensuring the locals still had a part to play in the blue riband event, had already pitted Bermuda in a two-Test series against Jamaica.

However, the schedule was thrown into disarray again on Friday when it was announced that the Caribbean side had pulled out at the 11th hour.

As a result Bermuda are back in the big time and will square off against the Barbarians this Sunday.

A clearly annoyed Classic President John Kane said the decision by the Jamaicans came after "weeks of frustrating discussions".

"The final straw was the refusal by US Immigration to issue visas to ten members of the team," said Kane, without expanding on the reasons behind the US decision.

"The people I feel sorry for in all of this," he went on, "are the players who were going to play for the Bermuda Select team as this would have been the rugby highlight for many of them.

"The Bermuda national team will now move into the Classic proper and will play against the Classic Barbarians on the opening Sunday, so in effect we are back to where we started, without Jamaica and without Italy."

The late withdrawals of both newly invited teams is no doubt a source of private anger, and maybe even a little embarrassment, for the organisers of the event. But Kane stood by his original decision to invite them.

"The reason behind the original change, primarily international opposition of a comparable level for the Bermuda national team, still stands," he said.

"However, next time we will make sure we deal with overseas teams which have some form of organisational ability."

Dennis Cherry, president of the Bermuda Rugby Football Association, echoed Kane's sentiments.

"Several problems in dealing with the travel arrangements for the Jamaican national team, along with a large number of their players not being granted US visas, led us to the decision not to continue efforts to bring them to Bermuda," he said. "The latter problem arose with the kick-off of the first game being only ten days away.

"After several phone calls to both the Bermuda and Jamaica US Consulates resulted in negative responses, we decided that cancelling the games was the only sensible course of action.

"We did not rush this decision and are very disappointed in this outcome. We were looking forward to these games as the perfect opportunity to not only give the local players a chance to showcase their skill to a home crowd, but also affording local sports fans the opportunity to witness the quality of rugby played throughout other islands in the Caribbean."

Cherry said he was confident the event would be a great success despite the organisational headaches.

"We still hope that local fans will come and support the national team as they take on top class players and teams from around the world in what has become a prime fixture in the local sporting calendar," he added.