A spring break tour by a women's rugby team turned sour again after a gang of boys in the neighbourhood hurled insults at them and refused to let them get out of the water after they had been for a swim.

Several members of the Niagara Falls Women's Rugby Team had been bathing off Boaz Island on Monday night when the youths surrounded the water's edge.

Announcing they were the "Boaz Boys'', they told the girls in the water they "owned'' the island and "we don't want you back here'', one player said.

"They called us strawberries and other names,'' Miss Jennifer Samson told The Royal Gazette yesterday.

"We have been harassed and robbed since we got here. I don't like where we are staying and I wish we could stay in a hotel,'' said Ms Leighann Hearn.

One of the players managed to sneak out of the water and run for help. With the help of two male coaches, who immediately called Police, the players got out of the water one by one, while the youths stood by calling them names.

Somerset Police yesterday confirmed the incident, saying a report of boys being "rude and loud on the dock'' had been made at about 10 p.m. on Monday night. "There were no injuries or arrests,'' an officer said.

Police told Ms Hearn that the Somerset Police were now going to patrol Messina House, the Government camping facility where they are staying, every half hour. It is understood some of the girls did not have full bathing suits on.

The latest incident occurred days after a break-in at Messina House in which $150 cash and several Walkmans were stolen from the students.

They had returned to Messina House after practice last Friday night to find their rooms ransacked.

It is understood that due to an absence of locks and bolts, the students were using sticks to secure several of the windows and doors.

Coach Mr. Gary MacDonald had said the team was not too upset over the thefts, pointing out they were the victims of a worse robbery on one of their last tours when thieves burst into their Toronto hotel rooms, grabbing all their cash and forcing them to flee for help.

"They're used to it,'' he joked.

Mr. MacDonald said the team was fully aware the facility was not ready for the summer season. But they accepted it, he said, because it was only $80-a-week per-person.

Until the caretaker fits the facility with proper locks, the students would continue using sticks to secure it, he said. "We have more sticks for all the windows.'' Tourism Department assistant director for activities Mr. Randy Horton, commenting on the team's troubles, said they did not come to Bermuda through Tourism's "spring break sports'' programme.

"We asked them to join after they got here,'' he said. "If they had come through us we would have encouraged them to stay at a hotel or guest house licensed by the Bermuda Department of Tourism. All such hotels would certainly have proper security.'' The student rugby players are among some 400 athletes from US universities and colleges coming to Bermuda this month for the new Spring Break Sports Programme.