The Bahamas won through in the Caribbean's North section qualifying competition in June at the Winton Rugby Centre.

More recently, Barbados went undefeated to win the corresponding round-robin in the South against Guyana (27-17), Trinidad and Tobago (25-13) and St. Lucia (87-0).

The Bahamas team recently travelled to Florida to play a USA All-star Panthers team, comprising both former and current members of the US Eagles. They won the match 14-7 against the bigger Americans, and head coach Steven Thompson expects the same physicality from Barbados.

"The best part about the scrimmage was that there were no injuries," said Thompson. The team that we played against was significantly bigger than our team and I understand that the Barbadian team will also be bigger than us.

"Fitness, speed and aggression are our strengths. Our players never stopped making the plays, applying the pressure and worked very well as a group."

According to the official IRB World Rankings, Barbados - ranked at 65 - go into the match as favourites against the 86th-ranked Bahamas side, but on the day anything is possible.