There will be no hiding from the consequences should Bermuda lose to Cayman Islands on Saturday.

Even if Roedolf van der Westhuizen, the Bermuda coach, calls it the “truth you don’t want to admit”, the task lying ahead for his team is simple.

Win and stay in the North Championship League, the top tier of the North American and Caribbean Rugby Association championships. Lose and face a promotion-relegation play-off against the winners of the second-tier North Zone Cup League, topped by Mexico, whom Bermuda lost to heavily in April.

“You’ve got to think about it [defeat], but it’s kind of that thing that you know is there, but as soon as you admit it, it becomes true,” Van der Westhuizen said. “We have thought about it to some extent, but not enough to really say that we can admit that this is going to be a reality if we lose.

“I would prefer getting a win under the belt and ending the season on a high, rather than having to train for another two or three weeks. Hopefully, we don’t have to think about it.” That Bermuda are in this position at all is entirely down to a disappointing 33-6 defeat by USA South in Atlanta last month, a result that Van der Westhuzien said worsened for effect once he watched the video.

“At the game, I felt we weren’t in it, really, and we made stupid mistakes, and that was the end of it,” the Bermuda coach said. “But, after analysing the video, we had a lot of possession, a lot of territory, we gave them three opportunities to score in our half, they took all three. We probably had seven opportunities at some point, big opportunities, small opportunities, but opportunities nonetheless, and we didn’t take any.”

Changes in the squad for Saturday reflect Van der Westhuizen’s need to strengthen his backs division, while also combating the pace of Joel Black, the wing, who gave Bermuda a torrid time last year in a 20-14 win for Cayman.

Back in the side after a return to fitness is Phil Hall, the fly half, a move that allows Tommy Edwards to return to his preferred position of outside centre. Corey Boyce drops to the replacements’ bench to accommodate a switch designed to give Bermuda’s attack a greater cutting edge.

“Hopefully, with everybody in the backs at least running at their preferred position, we’ll get a different result,” Van der Westhuizen said.

In the only other change to the starting XV, Paul Canfield, the blind-side flanker, drops to the bench, and is replaced by Bennet Gibson. Other changes include Stephen Husbands and Darren Richardson being brought into the matchday 23, with Connor McGlyn, Richard Boyce and Bongani Ndlovu dropped.

Of all the things that Van der Westhuizen is concentrating on this week, the defeat by Cayman last time the sides met does not appear to be one of them. “Cayman didn’t present any threat to me at all [last time],” he said. “We went down there with a very weakened team and five of the 20 we took would not make today’s squad of 30.”

Cayman should not be underestimated, however, because they are in a similar position to Bermuda. Saturday’s encounter will be Cayman’s first in the competition and, with their final game against USA South coming at home only a week later, defeat for them could be just as costly.

The visiting side come into the game on something of a high, having risen to 58th in the world rankings after a comfortable 35-7 warm-up win over Bahamas last month.

Still, Van der Westhuizen is confident that his side can dominate the game in the forwards and have enough presence in the backs to counter whatever Cayman throw at them. Ultimately, the Bermuda coach believes that the work that his side have done since the disappointment of Atlanta will make the difference.

“The question for this weekend is going to be fitness,” Van der Westhuizen said. “The fittest team is going to smoke the cigar at the end of the day. “We’ve worked extremely hard in the last three weeks, doing the things that you do for the 80 minutes. We try to do it for 90 minutes per training session, so it makes the 80 minutes seem like a short session.”

Bermuda squad: Dan Cole; Rich Cumbers, Tommy Edwards, Paull Davis, Neville Zuill; Phil Hall, Tom Healy; Paul Dobinson, Mike Williams, Dustin Archibald, Dave Rourke, Tashon Desilva, Bennet Gibson, Thomas Greenslade, Peter Dunkerley (captain). Replacements: Edward Barnes, Jahan Cedenio, Darren Richardson, Adam Richards, Paul Canfield, Stephen Husbands, Corey Boyce, Paddy Graham.