Even though Bahamas lost 16-8 to Bermuda on Saturday (9) was tough, Bahamas head coach, Ken Hutton, believes it gives his country an opportunity to regroup and create cohesiveness. The Bahamas hosted Bermuda, in the final game of the second  round for countries  in the  northern Caribbean, at the Winton Rugby Pitch, this past weekend. Bermuda won the northern title, advancing to the final with a perfect winfloss record. They will now play Guyana, which won the southern title.

“It was very close; we squeezed that one out,” said Lawrence Bird, head coach for Bermuda. “Focusing on this game, we picked the 22 guys who we knew would soak up the atmosphere and take the physical side of it,  so we needed 22 committed guys and we played all22 here today (Saturday).

“We knew today would have been very hard. This team had two tough games. Cayman Islands was a tough game where we made a lot of mistakes, so did Cayman. We knew coming here, The Bahamas is always very tough, playing them  at home. I’ve been down here four times and it has always been tough. The crowd gets right behind the side and  I had to pre-warn some of the guys, who had not experienced  it before, and everything that I predicted would happen, did. We knew that it was going to be very, very tight and we had to play hard if we wanted to win.”

Bermuda defeated the Cayman Islands, 10-3, on May 19. Seven days later, The Bahamas was defeated by the Cayman Islands, 27-7.Saturday’s match between The Bahamas and Bermuda was the third and final game in the second round for northern countries. The NACRA final will be played June 23, in Bermuda.

No matter what the outcome is, between Bermuda and Guyana, Bermuda is almost guaranteed a spot in the playoffs, when the next World Cup is set, unlike The Bahamas and the Cayman Islands which will now have to advance through the qualifying rounds. If Bermuda had lost to the Bahamas then Cayman would have been guaranteed a spot in the playoffs.

The Bahamas knew that they were in a “tight position” and a win over Bermuda was a must. However, Hutton said they left 11points on the field from missed kicks. He believes that the game would have gone in The Bahamas’ favor if the kicks were made.

“We tried to get the ball; we did a little bit more kicking in the second half trying to push them back onto their heels,” said Hutton. “We were getting the ball out to our backs more and really controlling the ball in the loose play, so overall, it was a good game and we all expected that.

“The next World Cup isn’t for several years but going through the qualifying rounds, I think, is actually better for us. This was only our second time  playing  together  as a team.  Our first time was against Cayman. Fortunately, when you go through the qualifying rounds you get to play more games. You get to gel more as a team, work together and know how each other moves, so I am actually thinking that you are going to see a much better, a more cohesive team next time.”

This is the second loss The Bahamas has  suffered  to Bermuda,  over  the  past  12 months.  Last year, Bermuda won 13-10.

I wonder if the Cayman Islands team view going through the qualifying rounds as a bonus?