Jonathan Cassidy, the Bermuda Rugby Football Union director of sevens, cannot wait for the local team to take to the field against United States colleges in the Bermuda International Sevens today and tomorrow.

The Bermudian side, chosen from the local league, is playing in the men’s college division at North Field against 11 American colleges. A match against Stony Brook University at 6.12pm today marks the home team’s participation in the tournament.

“What a wonderful opportunity for Bermuda to play at home against high quality, visiting teams,’’ Cassidy said.

“We are grateful for the opportunity to compete against them, but more so to host them in the hope that they will continue to return to our island for years to come.”

Cassidy is excited by the presence of a number of promising players among the Bermuda contingent.

“The squad includes seven players from our senior 2024 Rugby Americas North team, bolstered by the inclusion of exciting new talent, and Ja’kee Simons, who missed that tournament due to injury,” he said.

“Ja’kee will be co-captain of the squad, along with D’zuri Gill, who have both been in exceptional form in domestic competitions this year.

“Jake Field, Samir Tavares and Dan Kunst have yet to make their senior sevens appearances and bring a different dimension to this Bermuda team, as big, mobile forwards. It will be exciting to see their physicality combine with the exceptional attacking ability of our more experienced players.

“Osiris Buffonge-Hunt, Alex Calzado and Jaiden Hill have all proved themselves worthy of selection, and this experience should accelerate their development and long-term inclusion.

“They have the right attitude, plenty of talent and this tournament was founded to give athletes like them opportunities.

“Lucas Nyamoto will make his much anticipated debut as well. The former Kenya Under-20 player has been an influential figure on and off the pitch, and it will be great to see him in a Bermuda jersey for the first time.”

On the eve of the tournament, Paradise Mobile, the team’s sponsor, hosted the squad members and presented players with their jerseys.

Saratoga Jockeys, who defeated Dartmouth College 17-14 to win the tournament last year, will be the team to beat again this year. With six of the players, including player-coach Austin Gordon making a return to these shores, the select side has a great chance of being champions again.

“Our players are happy to be back here to compete again,” Gordon said.

“Our club went through a change of management so things were a little rocky, but everyone is excited to be back on track. As far as defending our title is concerned, we’re very confident in ourselves.”

Looking to make a strong challenge in the eighth edition of the tournament is the University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy in St Louis. Peter Lang’s side is preparing for two big events back at home.

“UHSP is excited to return to Bermuda for the Bermuda International 7s,” Lang said.

“Those who were here last year will recall that we travelled with a skeleton crew and this year is not much better. The squad is actually 13-strong, but being such a tough academic university means that only ten of our squad are eligible to play.

“I have been working with the Bermuda Rugby Football Union to try and find some local talent to help us. This year we are much more rounded in talent than last year so we are hoping to show strong, but the main goal this year is to get valuable game time to work on team cohesion and understanding.

“We are preparing for next weekend where we will travel to Kansas City, Missouri to compete in the City 7s tournament, which is a national qualifying event for the Collegiate Rugby Championship Sevens in April.”

Lang, the founder of the men’s rugby programme at UHSP, will be keeping an eye out for talented Bermudians.

“Just like last year, the other reason I enjoy this tournament is that it allows me to scout for talent who might be interested in coming to UHSP under a rugby scholarship,” he said.

“I am always on the lookout for a high academic achiever who is interested in studying something health-science related and is decent on the rugby field.”