Former Bermuda rugby captain Tashon DeSilva played in the final at the Emirates Dubai Invitational Sevens last weekend.

For a second consecutive year, the England-based DeSilva appeared for Black Goats, a club with players from Brazil, Colombia, Kenya, Tonga and the United States. His team, founded by Rafael Dominguez, from Dominican Republic, enjoyed a great run of form before they lost in the final.

“My second time in Dubai was bigger and better,” DeSilva told The Royal Gazette.

“I didn’t know what to expect with eight new players and four returning players making it 12.

“We still worked with what we had. First game was nerve-racking but it showed that with support for each other we kept working until the last whistle.

“We started off with a win and this gave us confidence for the next. Playing two games the first day with wins, we went into the second day thinking we had two games, but when we won our third game in a row we only had one to take us into knockout rounds going into the final day.

“A win put us in the final. We made a wrong move by starting the players that didn’t start the other game, putting us behind and playing catch up.

“We lost in the final and the first team did the same. It was a super improvement with new players overall and both teams coming second.”

With Bermuda heading to the Central American and Caribbean Games next year, DeSilva, who will be 42 by the time the action starts in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, next year, is making himself available.

“I will be putting my name forward again for availability for the up coming CAC games in June,” the former captain said.

“I’ll be coming down to Bermuda and will join up with the team. Hopefully, I make the squad this time around.”