By Denez jones, NG Sports Reporter

denez@nasguard.com

Hitting the road again to represent The Bahamas in the annual North American West Indies Rugby Association Caribbean Zone 7s tournament in Barbados, are the senior men's national team.

They will leave sometime today, and are expected to return on Monday from the tournament being held over the weekend.

The tournament will include men and women's teams from most of the Caribbean nations as well as Mexico, Canada and the United States.

In charge of team fitness, Andrew Davies urged players this summer to "get in shape" for the upcoming Caribbean Zone 7's Championship.

"If we are going to mount a serious challenge at this tournament, the vast majority of the players needed to work on their weaknesses, be it their fitness, strength or skill level, or even a combination of all three," said Davies.

He pointed out that he had indicated to players that while "they were lucky enough to qualify for the Caribbean Zone Championship with sub-par fitness. They won't be as fortunate in the upcoming event if their levels aren't improved."

Understanding that they only had about 10 short weeks to improve the team's overall fitness levels, Davies had opened training camp before the end of August.

In addition to attending the regional 7's tournament being hosted this weekend, the BRFU has received word from the North American and West Indies Rugby Associa-tion that they have won the bid to host the 2007 Caribbean 7's Championship Tournam-ent.

According to BRFU secretary Stephen 'Stevie' Thomp-son, the current mandate by NAWIRA is that if the tournament is successfully hosted they will allow the tournament to be hosted again for a second year running, which is why the tournament was in Barbados in 2005 and will be again this year.

"In this regard, we should have the tournament here in 2007 and 2008 which should also double as a Rugby World Cup 7's Qualifier. That's all good news - now the work begins," he stressed.

The national men's rugby squad has already suffered a blow when hard-hitting forward Manoli Roussos anno-unced that he was retiring from the sport, which left the team short. Having complained over the last few seasons about lower back pains, Roussos was advised by doctors to hang up his cleats. However, he won't disappear from the rugby scene totally. Apparently, Roussos has agreed to come on board as forwards coach for a newly-formed club --The Dragons-- during the next season. He's also expected to assist with coaching the national team that will travel this weekend.

The major difference between rugby 7s and 15s is the number of players on the field. Additionally, the tempo of the 7s game is much faster (than 15s), which seems to be quickly rising in popularity, especially in the United States.