Barbados 5 Bermuda 13

Bermuda stumbled through an error-ridden opening half before advancing to the final of the Caribbean Rugby Championship with a 13-5 defeat of Barbados yesterday.

Granted a bye into the last four after the withdrawal of St Lucia from the competition, which is being staged in the Cayman Islands, Bermuda's inactivity since the World Rugby Classic defeat to United States here nine days ago was clearly exposed.

The handling was unacceptable, the kicking game well below standard, highlighted by Michael Kane missing a penalty from in front of the posts, and injury was added to insult when Dave Bird, the back-row forward, suffered a broken arm.

But, after a half-time roasting when tempers are said to have flared, with Bermuda losing 5-3, the title favourites recovered smartly to take control. Nathan Browne scored the game's only try with Alan Oliver, one of three replacements to bring about a change of tempo, hitting a conversion and a penalty.

"They definitely came out and disrupted our ball a little bit," Andrea Battiston, the Bermuda coach, said. "We changed it around and controlled the game in the second half."

Battiston admitted to a "fiery" half-time talk, which resulted in the replacement of Billy NcNiven and Dev'rae Noel-Simmons at prop and Kane at stand-off half. Jonathan Williams and Jason Scott "added fresh legs" to the front row. "They were more mobile and opened the game up for us," Battiston said.

It was expected that Bermuda, the northern region champions when the event was last held two years ago, would have their own way. The early exchanges were in their favour, despite some sloppy play, and Kane gave them a 3-0 lead with a fine penalty from 30 metres out that atoned for his earlier howler. Barbados, who beat Bahamas 22-18 on Tuesday, were gifted the lead soon before half-time after failing to find touch. "A loose ball was picked up and they managed to get in," Battiston explained.

Bermuda reclaimed the lead only 10 minutes after the restart as Browne, who made the initial break from midfield, scored in the left-hand corner. Oliver kicked well to compete the conversion and, ahead 10-5 with a head of steam, Bermuda were going to take some stopping.

Oliver completed the scoring with a penalty from 30 metres out on the left but little mistakes resulted in Bermuda not returning a margin of victory that their second-half dominance deserved.

"We were camped in their half about 80 percent of the time," Battiston added. "We had missed a few opportunities with a couple of mistakes but we were definitely in control."

The coach is aware that Bermuda can ill-afford to come out of the blocks as slowly in the final tomorrow when they will face Trinidad and Tobago, the southern region champions in 1999, who beat Cayman Islands 12-8 in another hard-fought match. "Trinidad is a better team," he said. "We're going to have to come out firing like we did in the second half and gets in their face and disrupt their ball and shut them down early."

The teams are vying for a place in a World Cup qualifier against Brazil, who beat Venezuela 14-3 at home on Saturday, over two legs. Qualifying tournaments against Chile and Paraguay, and if successful, against Canada, United States and Uruguay await to determine who goes to Australia for the finals in 2003.

Bermuda: B.McNiven (J.Williams), M.Ladyman, D.Noel-Simmons (J.Scott), T.Steinhoff, G.Corcoran, D.Bird (A.Cupidor), R.Stewart, B.Hurdle, G.Davies, J.McGavern, M.Kane (A.Oliver), A.Harvey, N.Browne, J.Sangster (J.Cassidy), D.McGavern.