Bermuda women’s rugby team coach Alvin Harvey is counting on players with overseas experience to make a difference in the international friendly against Cayman Islands at North Field, National Sports Centre, on Saturday (4pm).

With the local league played as a non-contact, Harvey knows that the domestic players do not have much exposure to full contact.

“For practice, we don’t have all the ideal experience and body types for the positions yet,” Harvey told The Royal Gazette.

“We’ve got some girls who have been away to school like Alexia Hurdle and Nisaiah Berkeley, who have played rugby overseas in the forwards.

“We’ve got a lot more experience, but a majority of our players we would really consider them to be backs.

“We also have Jolie Davis, she’s played some rugby at the University of Exeter, where she goes to school. She decided to come and join the team, so anybody who’s played a little bit of contact, we’re always welcome to have them join.”

Hurdle was part of the team that travelled to George Town last June. Cayman won the first match 47-37, before Bermuda took the second encounter 34-25.

“I have mixed feelings because I want to win, but I’m just happy to play with other women and to just get more women’s rugby out there,” Hurdle said.

“We had a slightly different group last year in Cayman with captain Corrie Cross. She’s not playing this year and some of the girls that have a lot of experience aren’t able to play in this fixture, but we have a lot of younger players around my age.

“Nisaiah Berkeley and Satya Darrell are the other players who are coming back from university and they play all the time out there. They’ll be great additions to the squad with a lot of experience.

“We also have Jordan Mallory, Najeé Pitt-Clarke, Sarah Cross and Jolie Davis, they’re also playing rugby overseas. Najeé is carrying a bit of an injury, but I hope that she plays a part in the match.”

While the two teams are playing ten-a-side, which is meant to be played over two ten-minute halves, they have decided to play four 15-minute quarters.

Before shifting sessions to North Field, the team was training at Prospect Primary School.

“The numbers have not been as ideal as I would like, but we’ve worked with those at the end on a few things and the girls realised what they're in store for,” Harvey said.

“The past few weeks have been really good. We’re playing ten-a-side, so we’ve had ten 13 girls come down and we need 15 players for the match.”