Turks and Caicos Islands will travel to Bermuda this week more in hope than expectation.

Relative newcomers to international rugby, T&CI are competing in the North American and Caribbean Rugby Association Rugby Championships for just the third time and have yet to play Bermuda in the competition.

The two teams meet at the National Sports Centre on Saturday and Joe Ryan, the Turks captain, said his side “don’t really know what we’re up against”.

Turks have limited experience at this level, with defeats to Jamaica, Bahamas and Mexico as their only reference point. Still, Ryan said his side had been getting better and with a bit of luck, and some more accurate kicking, might have won two of those games.

Bahamas won 13-11 with Turks missing a last-minute penalty, while Jamaica won 10-6.

“In our first proper match against Jamaica in Turks [in 2013] they beat us by 15/20 points, but we could see where our weaknesses were from that match,” Ryan said.

“Our first game last year against Jamaica, in Jamaica, was a tight game, and it could have gone either way. We didn’t get the result, but we were happy with the performance. We didn’t know what to expect from Bahamas, but it was a home game and we had a good strong squad out.

“We missed three penalties that were really, really easy kicks, and we should have won that game, but the poor kicking was what lost it for us.”

Ryan is not sure what to expect from his own squad this year, let alone Bermuda this week, with the loss of at least one key player contributing to a buildup he described as disjointed.

Still, with a mix of aging expatriate players and some exciting local talent, Ryan, an openside flanker who grew up playing for Nemagh Ormond RFC in Ireland, is happy with the direction the team is going.

“A number of the guys, including myself, are at the other side of our careers,” he said. “We have plenty of experience, but it’s hard to turn up every time and put out the performance that you want.

“We have a group of young lads from the Island who have some blistering pace, but are just a little bit green in some areas, but we’ve been working on that and trying to get a way of playing together that will work with what we have.”

Ultimately, Turks are hoping to get one win from their two North Zone Cup League games, and are targeting Bahamas as the team they believe they can beat. What happens on Saturday against Bermuda is very much up in the air as far as Ryan is concerned.

“Bermuda is a game where we’re hoping for a result, but we’re certainly not expecting it,” Ryan said. “With Bahamas we’re hoping that we’ll be able to do what we didn’t do last year. We’ll see.”

* Bermuda’s game against T&CI begins at 4pm at North Field, and is the main event during a day of rugby at the National Sports Centre. Gates open at 12pm for a girl’s youth game, with matches also involving the under-11s at 12.30pm, the under-17s at 2.10pm and Bermuda’s national women’s team at 3.10pm.