The Bermuda rugby team step up their preparations for the North American Caribbean Rugby Association (NACRA) Championship with a friendly against Mexico tomorrow.

Roedolf van der Westhuizen, the Bermuda coach, whose squad left the Island yesterday, is expecting a stern test against the Mexicans, who are 74th in the world rankings, 22 positions behind Bermuda.

For Van der Westhuizen, the match will provide him with an opportunity to run the rule over his players who will be challenging for starting berths when Bermuda open their championship campaign next month.

“It’s a friendly game but it’s a recognised international fixture, so our ranking is on the line,” Van der Westhuizen said.

“I know little about Mexico other than they have a massive player base compared to us. They have about 2,500 players to choose from, which is significantly more than the 50 to 60 players we have to choose from.

“I’ve seen their under-19 team play a couple of years ago and I imagine a few of them have graduated into the senior — they seemed like a reasonable outfit at the time.”

Van der Westhuizen took charge of the coaching reins before last year’s NACRA Championship, replacing Lawrence Bird, who had led Bermuda to consecutive tournament wins.

In the absence of several key players and, perhaps owing to undercooked preparations, Bermuda finished bottom of the North Zone and have to qualify for the championships, starting with a match against USA South in Atlanta on May 10.

“Last year we didn’t have any sort of games before the Championship and that affected us,” Van der Westhuizen added.

“This year, we’ve already played against Brown University and it’s important for us to get some more game time.

“[The Mexico match] is another game that we have added to the calendar to give us some more preparation before the start of the championship.”

Bermuda’s travelling squad includes several new faces that Van der Westhuizen is keen to give game time before the USA South trip.

“I would say that we’ve brought in nine players as we will be missing three or four regulars because of other commitments.

“That’s not necessarily a bad thing as it will give some of the other guys a chance to show me that they deserve to be selected against the USA South.

“Last year there was a lot of building being done and I definitely think we have a stronger team than we had last year. Having said that, this weekend will be a good test to see if we are where we think we are ahead of the championship.”

Bermuda’s first home game of the championship will be against the Cayman Islands on June 7 at the National Sports Centre.