Bermuda coach Jamie Barnwell is adamant that his young rugby sevens squad hold no fear ahead of getting their Central American and Caribbean Games campaign under way in San Salvador on Sunday.

Bermuda are one of eight teams alongside Jamaica, Mexico, Cayman Islands, Colombia, Costa Rica, Venezuela and hosts El Salvador, who will be split into two pools of four, with finishing positions establishing the seeding for the knockout stages.

In the run-up to the Games, Barnwell has had to wrestle with plenty of disruptions, most notably being forced to contend with new eligibility rules, which mean only full passport holders could be selected.

As a result, the coach will be without the likes of experienced, established squad members Stephan Smit and Jamie Baum, as he makes a number of enforced changes to the national set-up.

To compound matters, captain David Lunn has also been ruled out of the tournament after picking up an injury while in action with the squad at the New England Rugby Football Union sevens tournament in Boston last weekend.

However, despite the setbacks, Barnwell has backed his new-look squad to flourish as they step into the unknown.

“It’s really hard to have any real expectations or aims heading into the Games,” he said.

“We’ve had to transition the entire team. As well losing some key experienced personnel, we’ve also lost our captain through injury, so we will have a young and inexperienced squad.

“We’ve also never played a number of the competing countries and so honestly don’t know how strong the likes of Colombia, Costa Rica, Venezuela and El Salvador are.

“All of those factors make it difficult to gauge what our expectations should be like, but I know the lads have spoken about challenging for a medal and that would be unbelievable.

“One thing I will say is that we will hold no fear. The squad want to be extremely competitive and we will be focusing on what we can control. The focus will be on staying relaxed and not allowing themselves to become overly anxious.

“While we may have an inexperienced team, I have great confidence in these young men. They have worked extremely hard in the build-up to these Games and have every right to be optimistic.”

That overriding sense of optimism was renewed further after the squad enjoyed an encouraging preparation on the field, with a stellar showing in Weymouth last weekend.

Dominating throughout, Bermuda ended the tournament unbeaten with four successive victories, overcoming Mystic (45-0), Newport (22-0), BIW (29-0) and giving up their only try in a 24-7 success over Boston.

“The tournament as a whole was brilliant for the squad and a chance to blow any rust off before the CAC Games,” Barnwell asaid. “It is the first time that we have had the chance to go away and play in a warm-up event before a major tournament.

“We learnt a lot and that will only hold us in good stead moving forward.

“From my point of view, everything was a positive, even the areas that we identified as not being what we wanted. Even those negatives can be used to learn and a good chance to work on what is needed.

“The real positives for me were not only how we looked to attack with the ball in hand, but how much our defensive work has improved.

“In the past we’ve looked a little passive, but I think we’ve definitely progressed the level needed to be able to turn the ball over quickly and be a real threat off the ball as well as with it.”

Reflecting on the setback of losing his captain through injury, Barnwell has backed his replacement, 19-year-old Faizon Augustus, to flourish in his first taste of international action.

“Obviously the only real downside of the tournament in Boston was the loss of David through injury,” he said. “He will be resting up now and hopefully will be back fit in time for the Rugby Americas North Sevens tournament Olympic qualifiers [in Canada in August].

“While it’s massively disappointing, it does give a chance for young Faizon to come in, earn his first cap and no doubt make an impact.

“He’s over the moon and I’m delighted to be able to give another young Bermudian player an opportunity at international level.”