to plot the downfall of their Caribbean rivals in the second qualifying stage for the 1999 Rugby World Cup.

Coach Peter Shillingford and BRFU president John Williams recently flew down to Trinidad to see them comprehensively beaten by Chile, their other opponents in the group. A video of the match was later shown to the whole squad.

Now Shillingford is banking on the experience of his front five to take advantage of what he identified as a "technical naivety'' in the scrum to boost their chances of victory.

"Trinidad are a very tall, rangy side who are particularly good in the line-out, so it's up to us to keep the ball on the pitch and move them around.

But they do have this weakness in the scrum,'' he said.

Shillingford has already named his team for Sunday's game at National Sports Club and it's one he thinks can exploit that weakness. "I've picked a side to do a particular job against Trinidad, '' he said, "and it's likely I will change it again against Chile.'' In their last meeting, in the Caribbean Championships in November, 1996, Bermuda overwhelmed Trinidad 29-8 to claim the title. But Shillingford is expecting a closer encounter this time.

"It's probably going to be tight for the first half-hour, but hopefully fitness will tell. I think we're a relatively fit side. However, I was speaking to their officials when I was down there and they fancy their chances, so it's going to be a difficult match.

"But with home advantage and a good, partisan crowd behind us I'm hopeful we will do well, although I'll be looking for the humidity to drop a little and for a bit of cloud cover.'' One cloud that Shillingford feels he has succeeded in lifting is the one that hovered over his team last Saturday as they went down to a select squad in a performance that left a lot to be desired. "That was a bit of a wake-up call for our boys,'' he admitted. "Some of them took it a bit lightly and there were a few stern words afterwards. But we rested two or three players and also a couple of the team played for them.'' This Sunday's game is just one stop on the long trail to the finals in Wales.

Success against Trinidad and then against Chile in Santiago on October 18, would pit Bermuda in a third qualifying group against Uruguay and Paraguay.

Then it would be on to face the big boys from America, Canada and Argentina in a round robin tournament in which three out of the four would qualify.

Bermuda's line-up v Trinidad on Sunday (kick-off 5.00 p.m.): D.Forsyth, S.Given, D.Lunn, A.Redmond, B.Hurdle, D.Bird, S.Field, P.Cooper, G.Davies, R.Webber, A.Harvey (capt), S.Correia, M.Gorrie, B.Robinson, J.Cassidy.

Replacements: D.Worsfold, B.McNiven, B.Adderley, D.Cherry, R.Matthews, A.Correia.