Bermuda secured a decisive 24-3 victory at a packed Winton Field in Nassau on Saturday in their World Cup first round match against Bahamas.

Playing in front of a partisan crowd of 3,000, Bermuda produced a workmanlike effort in extinguishing any hopes of an upset.

Well prepared and focused, Bermuda started strongly while heading into a stiff breeze.

Gareth Davis went blind from a scrummage 20 metres out, feeding captain Patrick Cooper, who with the line at his mercy inexplicably dropped the ball.

Sustained pressure eventually paid off after four minutes when Ross Webber kicked his first penalty to give Bermuda a 3-0 lead.

With forwards Bobby Hurdle and Ashley Redmond dominating line-outs the front row of Steve Given, Dave Lunn and Danny Forsythe began to create problems for the highly motivated pack.

Yet Bermuda failed to convert early domination into points and after 34 minutes full back Kalik levelled the score with a well taken penalty.

At 3-3 it was anyone's game and the crowd sensed an upset. To add insult to injury, Bermuda scrumhalf Davis was forced to the sidelines with a recurring hamstring injury, but Andrew Correia played well as his replacement.

Bermuda notched their first try in injury time of the first half as the ball was moved wide from a scrum 35 metres out, Webber dummying Mike Gorrie and Correia in the middle and feeding Mike Montgomery on the outside. He in turn relayed to Daniel Olsen who held off the Bahamas' full back to score in the corner, making it 8-3 at the break.

Returning with the wind at their backs the strategy seemed simple, Bermuda would kick and apply pressure.

However, the opening quarter-of-an-hour they chose to run the ball, which allowed Bahamas to come back strongly with some strong tackling by Sean Field and Dave Bird stifling several counter attacks.

Gradually Bermuda began to again exert pressure, causing Bahamas to wilt.

Webber kicked another penalty 11 minutes into the second half to make it 11-3 and shortly after he again split the posts to further enhance the lead.

Frustration showed in the home team as second row Hugh Jones was sent off for stamping and all of a sudden their spirit left.

Webber was successful with the resulting penalty and capped off a fine afternoon, running in from 50 metres to score under the posts after picking up a loose ball and then booting the conversion for the final tally.

However, coach Kieron Peacock was not completely satisfied with the manner of victory.

"It was a sweet victory, but the general feeling was that it could have been more comprehensive,'' said Peacock. "Barbados visit in four weeks (April 20) and Bermuda will have to be focused and organised to progress through to the next stage.''