Bermuda men’s sevens team endured a difficult start to their Central American and Caribbean Games campaign after suffering back-to-back defeats in El Salvador yesterday.

Jamie Barnwell’s youthful side were handed a baptism of fire in their opening encounter, going down to convincing 33-0 loss to Colombia.

The South American nation raced into a 12-0 advantage at half time with two tries, one converted, before pressing home their authority after in the interval with a further three converted tries.

Aiming to make amends in their second encounter of the day, Bermuda looked on course for victory against Venezuela, holding a 14-7 lead at the break, only for the opposition to rally after the interval with two unanswered tries, both converted, to complete the turnaround.

Head coach Barnwell reflected on a disappointing afternoon and conceded it was a tough lesson for his squad.

“The opening game was disappointing for us but all credit to Colombia, said Barnwell, who despite the setbacks highlighted the improved performance in the second outing.

“We struggled to get our game plan going as we didn’t manage to maintain possession of the ball.

“The boys are highly disappointed but this is sevens and at this level, our young squad have had to learn a tough lesson.

“The second match was the type of performance that we expected from ourselves even if we were on the wrong side of the scoreboard.

“It was a close game and all credit to Venezuela in finding a way back in the game.”

Bermuda will have plenty of opportunity to bounce back today with triple three fixtures, starting against Costa Rica, before facing Jamaica and ending the day against Cayman Islands.

Barnwell’s side will then conclude the first round of pool matches against Mexico tomorrow.

Bermuda are one of eight competing teams, along with Trinidad & Tobago, who are battling it out to determine their finishing positions within the pool that will establish the seeding positions for the knockout stages.