West Indies were left to lick their wounds after three bruising defeats on the opening day of the Argentina Sevens in Mar Del Plata yesterday.

The Caribbean side, which features four Bermuda players, were overmatched predictably against champions New Zealand and the host nation in losing 52-0 on each count, before dropping a 35-12 decision to France.

The Bowl round begins today against Paraguay but there is a question mark over the availability of captain Bobby Hurdle who limped out of the New Zealand match with a recurrence of his knee injury.

“He had a lot of treatment afterwards,” West Indies manager Neil Brooks said. “He’ll have more treatment tonight and tomorrow morning. I would think it would be OK, he’ll be able to start depending on how it goes tonight and how it feels in the morning.”

Hurdle joined a casualty list that included Mark Hamilton, the Trinidad wing, and Geoff Gregory, the UK-based professional from Jamaica, who is the team’s leading try-scorer.

While West Indies were never in the picture against the All Blacks and Pumas it was a game of two halves against the French.

West Indies led 12-7 after seven minutes and would have been seven points up had Josh McGavern not missed a conversion from underneath the posts.

But France rallied in the second-half where the Caribbean side’s inferior fitness was shown up. “To go up against France at half-time 12-7 up was very encouraging,” Brooks said. “In the end the scoreline flattered them. We were struggling ion the second-half purely because of fitness.”