Bermuda’s young rugby players will face hosts Jamaica for a bronze medal at the Rugby Americas North Men’s Under-19 Tournament on Saturday.

After the first two days of action at the University of West Indies’ Mona Bowl, the island’s 21-strong squad still find themselves in medal contention despite enduring mixed fortunes at the tournament, that also includes USA South, Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana.

Chris Naylor’s side got off to the ideal start when thrashing Guyana 48-0 in their opening encounter. However, the victory came at a major price with captain Kwame Naylor suffering a major hamstring injury that ruled him out of the rest of the competition.

To compound matters, Bermuda then lost vice captain Jay Dunleavy to another serious injury in a disappointing 29-3 defeat to Jamaica.

Despite the setbacks of losing two of their most senior players, the squad bounced back superbly at the start of the second day, edging Cayman Islands in a narrow 9-7 victory only to continue the inconsistent trend by capping off their pool matches with a comprehensive 35-0 defeat to USA South.

Even with the mixed results overall, Bermuda still progressed to the third-place play-off match, where they will be aiming to avenge not only the first-day defeat but also last year, when the squad missed out on a place in the final to Jamaica, who progressed on points scored after the two teams had played out an 8-8 draw.

“This tournament has just been attritional,” said head coach Naylor, on his side’s fortunes.

“In the very first game we lost our captain running in to score a try when he collapsed untouched with what looks like a pretty bad tear to his hamstring.

“In the second game we then lose our vice captain to another knock and he’s out of the tournament.

“However, the boys played really well on the second day in a close-fought game to beat Cayman, but USA South just outmuscled us in the last match.

“Despite two defeats against really strong teams, spirits remain high and we’re looking forward to the big game for third place. If we get that bronze medal, it will be one place higher than we finished last year.”