Bermuda?s rugby World Cup qualification chances have been hit with injury, unavailability ? and pregnancy.

Given only two months notice by the International Rugby Board, coach Pete Shillingford has struggled to get his first-choice side together for the trip to Nassau, Bahamas early next month.

The lack of notice meant some players couldn?t get time off work while Bermuda will have to cope without inspirational captain Bobby Hurdle, whose wife is due to have a child a week after the competition against Cayman, the Bahamas and Jamaica. Chris Naylor, who had a child last week, is also unlikely to travel.

?I don?t want to be too negative because we do have a good squad and I am confident they will be able to get us through but is not an ideal time for us,? said Shillingford, who has petitioned unsuccessfully to get the tournament moved to later in the year.

?We have been messed about by the IRB quite a bit and they have only given us little time to prepare but we just have to get on with it.

?The guys have been training for the past four of five weeks and the fitness levels are coming up quite nicely and we will be ready for this.

?We are missing some key players but the other guys are capable of stepping up. We just have to hope we don?t get injuries in key positions.?

The side that triumphs in the the northern Caribbean group will take on the winners of the southern group in a one-off game later in the year ? expected to be Trinidad ? and the winners of that will go into the Group of Death with USA and Canada for a place in the 2007 World Cup in France.

Four years ago, Bermuda were beaten by Trinidad in the final qualifier, while eight years ago, Chile beat the Island side to take a place in the World Cup finals.

?I think we have enough to get through the group,? continued Shillingford, who does have key attacking weapon Jonathan Cassidy available.

?If we do get through, it is more than likely we will play Trinidad and that should be a tough game. But some of the guys missing this trip could be available then.

?We have a powerful and talented back row and some very quick backs who can finish things off.

?We will try and play a tight, conventional, structured game, we won?t be tossing the ball about too much in that heat. Our style is going to be more European than maybe some of the other sides, although Cayman have a lot of ex-pat influence in their team and Jamaica have a habit of playing more open rugby.?

One thing hampering the Island side is the lack of match practice. Their last game, aside from a Select XV defeat to the visiting Guanos team in March, was a comfortable victory over a weak Atlanta Renegades during last year?s Rugby Classic. The last international encounter was the 2003 loss to Cayman also during the Classic.

?It?s a shame we haven?t been able to play more games, but money and time are always tight,? continued Shillingford.

?If we get through, we would try and sort something out for before the Trinidad game.?