BERMUDA's rugby side used to be a regional powerhouse but after years of decline the Bermuda Rugby Football Association are hoping a revamped youth effort can rekindle the glory days.

Next month a Bermuda combined under-16 and under-18 squad will travel to Burlington, Canada to take on two club sides.

The matches, against Oakville Crusaders on July 25 and Burlington Centaurs on July 27 , will be vital preparation for next year's under-19 Caribbean championships.

The team is still on the young side so not too much will be expected then, said coach James (Herbie) Adderley.

He said: "It will be good experience so the next time it comes around we will be in a better position."

Bermuda's senior squad once scooped Caribbean Championships and went toe to toe with the likes of Chile and the States in World Cup qualifiers but the Onions sides have recently struggled while Trinidad and Guyana have been on the rise.

"We have been stagnant, if not going backward," said Adderley. "The rugby in the Caribbean has just really taken off.

"So we are trying to revive the sport, we have had a long hiatus of people not playing, we are trying to blood them and throw them back into the sport.

There are only four clubs on the island, we don't have a very big pool to start with so we need to grow it."

While mini-rugby for the four to 13-year-olds is booming and at the junior school level rugby is incredibly popular at the teenage level it just dies off said Adderley who explained said a dearth of interested sports teachers has meant there is little action at high school.

"So Anthony Cupidore and I started up this programme and it's continued to grow.

"Right now the majority of our kids are not coming from the traditional rugby schools like Saltus.

"We are getting kids from Berkeley and CedarBridge and kids who are not in school for whatever reason."

It has helped change rugby's elitist image to Adderley's obvious delight.

"The great thing about this is we have such a diverse background of kids, we have the rich, the poor, the black, the whites. You got everything. It's fantastic. I don't see that anywhere else in Bermuda."

And he said the sport was a great way for people to mix. "There is always a job for everyone in rugby, it's a great neutraliser ¿ if you are big you can be forward, if you are fast you can play on the wing, if you are tall you can get in the line-outs and if you are short and stocky you can push in the scrum.

"It's not like basketball where you just get the tallest guys," said

Adderley, 33, who has played for Teachers since he was 15. said the Bermuda national youth squad was born about 18 months ago.

"It started when a team wanted to come to Bermuda to play a match so we had to throw something together. We managed to do it. It's just grown and grown."

There are twice-weekly training sessions at Whitney. And Bermuda has taken on four visiting squads from Canada, England and the States.

Heavy defeats have turned into two victories against the latest visitors ¿ Boston team Brookline ¿ in two Easter friendlies.

And the youngsters have toughened themselves up by playing alongsite the adults in the Teachers second-string rugby team at BAA on Friday nights.

Now because Bermuda has a recognized youth team more and more teams want to come over to play with interest from Argentina, Ireland and Canada.

"They all say 'can you pay for us to come down'. They have all seen the Rugby Classic exposure and think we are able to pay for all these teams to come down and play rugby whenever they want. But it doesn't work that way."

Next month's Burlington trip should spark a return visit on more realistic terms hopes Adderley.

"We know we can then put teams on the calendar for our kids to train towards. Rather than just train Tuesday and Thursday and have no goal at the end of the tunnel."

Adderley hopes to get a tri-nation youth rugby tourney arranged for next year's Classic.

He added: "There is some great talent coming along. Some of them have played for the Teachers first team and I would expect within the next five years some of these will definitely be playing for the national team."