Interim national rugby coach Brian Archibald is adamant there were positives to take from Bermuda’s 19-14 defeat away to Jamaica in their Rugby Americas North tournament opener.

Bermuda were punished for stuttering start on Saturday, finding themselves 19-0 behind early in the second half before staging a spirited fightback, with tries from Samir Tavares and Tahy-Jay Lynch, both converted by Ja’Ke Simons, reducing the deficit to just five points with 20 minutes still to play.

However, there was to be no memorable turnaround as Jamaica held firm in the final quarter to secure victory. Despite the disappointment of failing to complete the comeback, Archibald was delighted with the spirit shown by his players.

“It was one of those games where we came away with mixed feelings,” said Archibald, who has taken the reins temporarily with the support of Chris Naylor.

“Jamaica started quickly and as well as scoring from some good attacking play, they also made the most of some mistakes from us and missed tackles.

“However, I was really pleased with the spirit shown by the players to be able to work their way back into the match. In the end the game was there to be won if we would have kept going, but unfortunately we will look back and think we didn’t take our opportunities.

“Although it wasn't the result we perhaps wanted, I asked the lads to give a performance and that’s what they did.”

Ironically, Archibald felt his players only started to show nerves after reducing the deficit and giving themselves a chance of getting back into the encounter.

“We actually started to make some bad decisions in the latter stages and were a bit naive with some of our play,” Archibald said.

“We got back into the match and then I think we got a little ahead of ourselves and perhaps played as individuals rather than continuing to do what we were doing.

“However, that in itself is a learning experience. Coping with those situations is something that will come with playing together more as a team. Unfortunately those scenarios are not something you can really coach, you can’t replicate those match situations.

“At this stage I'm more concerned about the performance because I know if we continue to build together and do the things that we want to see, it will lead to consistent results moving forward.”

Attention now turns to preparing for the visit of Bahamas on June 1, with Archibald challenging his side to build on the encouraging aspects of their previous performance.

“Now it’s time to look forward and hopefully continue the encouraging parts of the match against Jamaica,” he said.

“We definitely have aspects in which we need to improve, but there were periods of the game that we were really happy with and so we need to build more on those.

“I don’t know a great deal of what to expect from Bahamas, but all I want to see from the players is that they bring the same attitude as they had in the last match.”