Conyers Dill & Pearman are to pump $60,000 into Bermuda rugby over the next three years.

The law firm have created the Conyers Youth Cup, which will be an annual competition between youth teams from Bermuda and the Cayman Islands.

And CD&P hope the initial $60,000 'seed money' will provide the roots for the cup to eventually blossom into a Caribbean Youth Championship.

Initially, however, the cup will be played between under-10, under-12, and under-14 teams from Bermuda and Cayman with the inaugural matches to be played at the National Sports Centre's North Field on March 14 and 15.

And in the short-term it is hoped the event will expand to also include the under-16s and colts, helping to provide more opportunities to play the game for a group of players who historically have been lost to other sports and other activities.

The idea for the tournament came out of a meeting between fomer Bermuda international and now CD&P marketing manager Ross Webber, and Richard Adams, Technical Director of the Cayman Rugby Union.

"There has historically been a gap between mini-rugby and then the seniors," said Webber.

"We're actually hoping that the interest that this tournament generates will help keep a lot of the kids in the game. Right now we go up to under-14, we're hoping we can go up to under-16 and then possibly to colts level, and on from there.

"This is one of the major reasons why we wanted to do it, but it is about trying to fill that gap between the 16-year-olds and the 10-year-olds and keep them interested.

"We are hoping that the carrot of having international representational rugby and a tour to a different country will help to maintain that interest for some of the guys who have shown good potential already but are flirting with other sports and other interests. We're hoping this might help keep them in the game.

"When we first talked about it in March of 2007 we had talked about it being a Bermuda, Cayman tournament initially, and then seeing how that goes. If it's successful and well-run, and shows a shelf life then we have looked at possibly opening it up to other Caribbean nations – Barbados, Bahamas, Trinidad, BVI, and looking to some of the other nations.

"But that's very much wait-and-see, at the moment we are very, very pleased with the fact that it's a Bermuda-Cayman tournament. If it grows and gets legs and eventually becomes a Youth Caribbean Championships, then that's a wonderful thing to look forward to, but it isn't there yet.

"And similarly we know that in Bermuda and Cayman there are the numbers to supply the under-10s, under-12s and under-14s, but at this juncture we don't have the numbers to justify a tournament for under-16s and under-18s.

"But if this picks up in the next couple of years, especially if we get the interest we are hoping for, who knows."

Although Bermuda and Cayman have competed against each other in the past, it has only ever been on an informal basis, something that Webber and Adams were keen to change.

"We thought there was an opportunity to make it into a tournament that has some legs, and has some potential to grow," said Webber.

"In order to get legs and a potential to grow most people need some sponsorship, so myself, David Cooke one of the partners at CD&P, our Cayman office, talked about it and said 'look if we give them some seed money for this tournament it has a good potential to actually last and grow for more than just a one-off', and that's really how it started."

Conyers have committed to a minimum three-year deal of $20,000 a year, which will be used to provide kit, accomodation and help subsidise, but not completely pay for, the travel expenses of the 90-odd players, parents, and coaches who are expected to travel for the event.

"It's a lot of money, it's nothing to scoff at, but what we've done is actually arranged that it's $10,000 from our Bermuda office and $10,000 from our Cayman office," said Webber. "So every year they have $20,000 to build up this tournament."