BERMUDA used to dominate the Caribbean Rugby Championships. But for the past few years the island's national team has slipped drastically . . . in fact last year when Bermuda competed in what is now called the North Americas West Indies Rugby Association (NAWIRA) Caribbean 15 A-Side Championships, they didn't win a game and came last.

Now the Bermuda Rugby Football Union wants to get back that winning feeling and will travel to this year's championships with a squad which is a mix of veterans and university students.

Heath Robinson, BRFU tour manager, said this week: "We will be up against the likes of Guyana, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Mexico and the Cayman Islands who are the hosts."

While Robinson and the other Bermuda players know what to expect from most of the teams, they will be in the dark a bit about the Mexican side.

"They will be new to these championships," said Robinson. "We did see them in the Sevens tournament and they were all big strong guys, good athletes even though their rugby skills were a bit questionable. But in the Sevens they were impressive. We are wondering what their 15-a-side team will be like."

For the first time Bermuda will be able to use some of their unversity students. "Normally the tournament is held in November but for the first time it was decided to hold it in August. I imagine that the other sides will also be using some of their younger university students and I think that maybe the tournament was moved to August so that they can use the students. We have seven university students who are going. We call them Keith Hodgkins' kids as he helped bring them through and introduced them to the game. Keith worked a lot in his spare time with them (while they were in high school)."

All of the students play at their respective universities.

Gareth Williams, who plays his club rugby for Mariners, is captain of his team at the University of Southern California while Allan Steynor is vice captain at the University of Southampton in the UK. He also plays his club rugby in Bermuda for Mariners.

Thomas Edwards is at Reading University in the UK and plays for Police while Ian Scotton is at Dalhousie University in Canada and plays for Mariners.

Ryan Gonsalves is at Bath University in the UK and plays for Mariners while Neville Zuill is at St. Catherine's University in Canada and also plays at Mariners.

"The young guys are the future of the game in Bermuda," said Robinson who remembers the glory days of Bermuda in the Caribbean Championships. "I tell the guys that I never lost at the Caribbean Championships," he laughed.

"This time the boys are going to have to step up a bit as we have not done as well as we have liked lately. We have a bit of a chip on our shoulders. We have been abysmal for the last four years and now the guys are expecting a lot of themselves. We have slacked off in recent years and the other islands have continued to get better. I think we have been pretty lackadaisical. Now hopefully we will have a good push.

"When the past season finished we looked around and said 'do you guys want to do this?' And they said 'yes'. People put their hands up and I must admit they have been committed. The training sessions have been good and they have attended as many as they could considering that they have jobs. I have seen the enthusiasm and that is encouraging."

To get ready for the matches in the Cayman Islands, the squad flew to Canada for a couple of warm up games.

"No one had played any competitive rugby since the end of April when our season finished," said Robinson.

The squad travelled to Burlington, Ontario for a weekend tour a month ago and played two games where they won against the Burlington Centaurs RFC and achieved a tie against a fit Oakville Crusaders RFC U-23 team.

"There is a long-standing relationship between Bermuda and the Burlington clubs. Burlington first toured Bermuda back in 1968 and Oakville have been here before," added the Bermuda tour manager.

Bermuda's first game in the Cayman Islands is on Monday against Guyana and then on Wednesday against Barbados.

The team leaves for Grand Cayman on Saturday.

The Bermuda squad is: Devrae Noel-Simmons (Teachers RFC), Andrew Males (Teachers RFC), captain Derek (Bobby) Hurdle (Teachers RFC), Christopher Naylor (Teachers RFC), Harry Andrews (Teachers RFC), Thomas Greenslade (Teachers RFC), Bill McNiven (Teachers RFC), Jamie Billings (Police RFC), Nicholas West (Police RFC), David Bird (Police RFC), Mark Evans (Police RFC), Mariner Jackson (Renegades RFC), Michael Williams (Renegades RFC), Peter Dunkerley (Renegades RFC), Tom Healy (Renegades RFC), Richard Slater (Renegades RFC), Greggory Garside (Renegades RFC), James Holburn (Renegades RFC), Steve Husbands (Mariners RFC), Gareth Williams (University of Southern California, USA and Mariners RFC), Allan Steynor (University of Southampton and Mariners RFC), Thomas Edwards (Reading University and Police RFC), Ian Scotton (Dalhousie University and Mariners RFC), Ryan Gonsalves (Bath University and Mariners RFC), Neville Zuill (St. Catherine's University and Mariners RFC),

The Cayman national squad also has been getting in some training matches. Earlier this month they played the South African Barbarians who only won by a point (17-16) in a fierce, fast and well played warm-up match on August 4 at the South Sound Pitch.

The Caymans were missing eight members due to injury, vacation or business and the very strong Barbarian team was tipped to win the match from the get go. It was somewhat of a surprise for all when having withstood and early onslaught from the Barbarians the Cayman side came back and dominated the majority of the first half with Richard Tressider kicking three penalty goals to take a nine-point lead before the Barbarians launched some strong offensive play.