Bermuda’s men’s sevens team finished their Central American and Caribbean Games campaign in sixth place.

Heading into their final group encounter in El Salvador yesterday, Jamie Barnwell’s side knew that in order to keep their aspirations of progressing to the semi-finals alive, they had to overcome Mexico as well as rely on results going their way in Venezuela’s matches against the same opposition and Cayman Islands.

However, it was not to be as despite a spirited display in which they outscored their opponents in the second half after trailing 12-7 at the interval, Mexico held out to claim a slender 17-14 victory.

After missing out on progression to the final four, Bermuda then battled it out for a finishing position between fifth and seventh against the other teams who also miss out on the semi-finals.

A 19-10 victory over Costa Rica followed in their first encounter, only for their hopes of challenging for a fifth-place finish to be dashed after the team were forced to forfeit the final match against Cayman Islands, citing an overwhelming number of injuries among the squad.

“We didn’t have seven players to start the game,” said head coach Barnwell. “It’s unheard of for any team to play as many games across three days.

“We have four players needing head assessments, one who contemplated playing with a dislocated finger and elbow, and we had no reserves, so with that in mind we decided as a team to make the right decision.

“There is no competition in playing for fifth or six, so with that in mind it wasn’t worth starting the game with less players and risking more injuries.

“In times like this you have to make decisions with your head and not your heart and I’m just so proud of how the players have conducted themselves and for what they’ve done at these Games.”

Despite the disappointing conclusion to the Games and falling short of their main objective of progressing to the semi-finals, assistant coach Stephan Smit is adamant the team can leave Central America proud of their endeavours.

“Obviously it was disappointing not to progress through to the semi-finals but these things happen,” said Smit. “However, there is no better place to learn lessons from than in big tournaments.

“We could come up with all the excuses and look to point the finger at other factors, but there has been a lot learnt and that in itself is a big positive.

“After all that this team has gone through and what has happened they can take a lot from it.

“Despite certain things going against the team, they showed the integrity that you need to play at international level. They not only earned the respect of the coaching team, but also from their opponents.

“We’ve had a lot of people come up to us and tell us how unfortunate and unlucky we were, but the biggest thing for me is that they stood up to the task and they can all hold their heads high.

“Overall, the takeaway from the tournament are that this team learnt what the values of playing internationally for Bermuda are and we will look forward to the next one.”

The decision to forfeit the final match was also made with the team now switching focus to trying to remain in contention for the 2024 Paris Olympics at the Rugby Americas North Sevens tournament in Canada in a little over six weeks’ time.

Placed in pool B alongside regional powerhouse Canada as well as St Lucia at the event in British Columbia on August 19 and 20, Bermuda are one of nine teams across three groups challenging for the one automatic qualification spot at the Games in Paris next year, as well as a place on the prestigious World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series.

“In light of heading off for an Olympic qualifier in six weeks’ time, picking up more injuries would have been ridiculous and just not worth it,” added Barnwell. “These guys want to go through an Olympic qualifying campaign and build on what they have done here.”