Hurdle just three months after the player moved to England.

The 28-year-old second row forward had taken up a one-year contract with the Second Division outfit after impressing in trials.

But he quit at the weekend without playing a first team game after he told officials he was becoming increasingly homesick.

Former England coach, Geoff Cooke, chief executive at Worcester, told The Royal Gazette : "Bobby joined us a couple of months ago. He had been over here briefly on a little trial period towards the back end of last season.

"We invited him back to see if he liked the life as a professional rugby player and basically he came to me and said he wasn't enjoying it, was a bit homesick and would like to be released from his contract and go back to Bermuda.'' There had been high hopes for Hurdle, the national team captain who led Teachers to the Beck's League title last season, but in the end, distance from friends and family proved too much.

"If somebody is not happy there is not a lot of point trying to convince them to stay. He was away from his family, away from his friends and it's not easy.

So I accepted what he said and just said I hope he keeps up with his rugby,'' Cooke said.

The chief executive said Hurdle would have had to have worked extremely hard to achieve his goals in England.

"We wanted to give him the opportunity to develop as a player. It is a totally different environment and rugby culture here, but obviously we thought he had ability or we would not have invited him back,'' Cooke said.

"He had had a few minutes here and there in pre-season games as we rotated the squad. He did alright but he was going to find it difficult and would not have made our first selection on the league scene that's for sure.'' Cooke said though he understood Hurdle's reasons for leaving, he was disappointed for the player.

"I'm disappointed for him really. We went through a lot of effort to get his work permit organised and he had the opportunity.

"But when you live in a place like Bermuda everywhere else could seem not as good in comparison. Worcester is quite nice but I think if I had a choice I would spend much more time in Bermuda than I could in Worcester,'' he said.

"It's just a pity for him. He has obviously done well but he has reached a stage in Bermuda where the whole point of him coming here was to see if he could go to another level and stretch himself as a player.

"But if he's not happy, he's not enjoying things, missing home, family and his fiancee it is very difficult. From our point of view we understand that, it's no use having an unhappy player on our books.'' Power play: National captain Bobby Hurdle (with ball) in action for Teachers.