Bermuda's national rugby team fly out to the Cayman Islands tomorrow for the start of the 2008 Caribbean Championship.

And this year there isn't just regional pride at stake, the tournament is also doubling-up as the first step towards qualifying for the 2001 World Cup in New Zealand.

As a result the format of the competition has changed as well, in the past it was round-robin, now it's a straight knock-out with a spot in the next round of qualifying up for grabs.

"We need to win all our games to get through, which is a tall order, but something we think is highly achievable," said Lawrence Bird, the Bermuda coach.

"Our first game is against the Bahamas, and we will be looking for a little bit of revenge in that game. They beat us three years ago in a World Cup qualifier in the Bahamas, but we beat them recently in a sevens tournament over there, so we are quietly confident that we can win.

"Historically we have been a strong force in the region, we have struggled in recent years, but all the countries in the Caribbean region tend to go through cycles.

"It often depends who you can get to play for you. The key is to developing the game in the country and getting the youth players coming though, which is something we have tried to do.

"With the IRB residency rule we can have a number of non-Bermudians playing for us, but we have a good mix.

"Of a squad of 23/24 players, 13 are Bermudian, which is good for rugby in Bermuda going forward."

Such is the importance of the competition that the team have been training together since February, work and club commitments allowing.

And Bird is confident that the side are well prepared for the tough task that lies ahead.

"We have three games in three days, and ideally we'd like to be taking a squad of 26. At the moment we're only taking 23, but it is a strong group of players and we should be ok.

"We have been training together off and on since February, but we obviously had to work that around the domestic season. Since then we've been training three times a week and they have been very physical training sessions.

"It has been difficult though, it was a long season, and there were the usual injuries to worry about, but we have a good strong core of players to take to the Bahamas."

Squad: J Billings, B Desmond, P Topley, M Lea, T Greenslade, A Battiston, B Beasley, K Walsh, P Dunkerley, B Hurdle, K Furbert, A Steynor, T Healy, C Naylor, G Garside, H Andrews, J Ellison, C Way, M Kane, N MacGuinness, R Douglas, Eoghan O'Dwyer

Physio: Maureen Ryan

Manager: Mark Norman

Coaches: Johann Oosthuizen and Lawrence Bird