Bermuda 7 Cayman Islands 3Bermuda coach Lawrence Bird’s pre-game prediction proved prophetic after his team edged past a bellicose Cayman Islands at the National Sports Centre on Saturday.Bird had warned his players prior to their opening match of the NACRA Caribbean Championships that he expected their clash against Cayman to “go right down to the wire”.And with seven minutes remaining, the hosts seemed to be heading to a shock defeat against Cayman who were 3-0 up courtesy of a Morgan Hayward penalty kick in the first half.Bobby Hurdle had other ideas, however, with the big lock forcing his way over the line for the all-important try to save Bermuda’s blushes and keep their title defence on track.Fly half Ian Henderson, who missed penalties either side of the half, kicked the conversion to give the hosts a four-point lead, which they preserved into the final whistle of the closely contended match.Bird admitted his players appeared “jittery” during the early stages of the encounter the team’s first international match since defeating Guyana in last year’s final but insisted they would only get better.Bermuda are next in action on June 9 when they travel to Bahamas for the side’s second North Zone group game.“I said it would go to the wire and it did. We made three substitutions (Jahan Cedenio, Paull Davis and Darren Richardson) at a fairly crucial stage, bringing on some fresh pair of legs, some big guys, and it paid off,” said Bird.“We didn’t play too well, we looked like a team that was jittery playing their first match of the competition but we did settle down as the match wore on.“It was interesting because we were spilling the ball earlier but towards the end it was Cayman spilling the ball.“It was interesting how the game toed and froed and turned around.”Bird said he wasn’t surprised by Caymans’ battling display and believed they would prove to be one of the strongest sides in the tournament.“I knew it would be close, I knew they’d been getting good numbers during training. Both teams are in the same boat now when we have to ring up players to say they haven’t made the squad. That’s why is was such a tight contest today; I thought they did ever so well and pushed us all the way.“I thought it was arguably two of the best teams in the tournament playing each other today.”Despite his team’s somewhat under par display, Bird was satisfied with the hard-fought win and said he would be closely monitoring next weekend’s match between Cayman and Bahamas.“We’re pleased with the win, obviously, but it doesn’t change much we still have to win our next game (against Bahamas). Cayman play Bahamas at home next week so it will be interesting to see what happens there. It’s certainly all to play for still.”Bermuda are scheduled to play four North Zone games against Cayman and Bahamas; two home and two away.The winner of this year’s Championships will advance as the sole Caribbean representatives in the 2015 World Cup qualifiers to be held in England.Bermuda, who are 49th in the International Rugby Board’s world rankings, are the top ranked side in the Caribbean.