Former Australian international Adrian Skeggs has been drafted in to boost Bermuda's drive for Rugby World Cup qualification.

The ex-Wallabies Test player has offered his services as the Island prepares for a crucial tournament in the Cayman Islands.

Around 40 players are in training for the West Indies Championships which take place in November.

That number will be whittled down over the coming weeks as the regime, under the guidance of Skeggs, is intensified.

President of Bermuda Rugby Football Union John Williams said the former international's capture was a coup for the game on the Island.

The 38-year-old, who hails from Lord Howe Island in New South Wales, Australia, won 16 caps for the Wallabies and was part of the touring side that played in Canada and France in 1993.

He played Super 10s rugby in 1994 before ending his playing career a year later.

After hanging up his boots, Skeggs went to South Africa where he took over as a coach in Cape Town and was also the coordinator for Natal Rugby Union in Durban.

After several postings in Africa he arrived at Harlequins Rugby Club in England in 1998.

A year later he made the switch to Bedford and his last job until June of this year was at Worcester Rugby Club where he was the director of coaching.

"He is now going around the world looking for new challenges. Through contacts he heard about us and thought it would be interesting to come out to this part of the world and give us a hand for a month," said Williams.

The president said he thought Skeggs' input would be invaluable.

"He should take our guys up another level. I just hope they have got the commitment to stick with a month of what I would imagine, based on this man's CV and what I have heard about him, will be very intense training. It will be a case of whether as part-timers they can come up to his expectations.

"He has told me if he is coming out here to give his time for nothing then he expects the guys to raise the level of the crossbar."

Bermuda's international captain Bobby Hurdle knows Skeggs from his own days at Worcester.

"Bobby said he has got a fantastic reputation as a no-nonsense, solid coach," said Williams.

Even with Skeggs' assistance, qualifying for the World Cup in 2003 will not be easy.

Bermuda face the likes of Trinidad, the Bahamas and the Cayman hosts next month. If they come through that test they then go on to play the winners from Peru, Colombia, Brazil and Venezuela on a home and away basis.

That victors will then have to play home and away against Chile and Paraguay.