Devizes U9s travelled to the Isle of Wight to experience their first rugby tour over the weekend.

A squad of 16 accompanied by parents were hosted by Sandown and Shanklin RFC in the Vectis festival which attracted 13 teams in the age group from as far afield as the Midlands and East Sussex.

Wiltshire was also represented by Trowbridge, arch rivals of Devizes.

The Saddleback's first match against Edenbridge was a close fought affair and the resulting 0-0 draw was a fair result.

In their second match against Vectis, the host side were evidently strong, and a fierce first half resulted in a 10-0 lead for the hosts.

Drawing on pride, Devizes adopted a composed and focussed approach and they ground away at Vectis to draw level. Then Alistair Broughton, playing in considerable discomfort scored the winning try seconds from the final whistle.

Devizes dominated their third match against Fawley, winning 25-0, and faced another tight match in their final pool match against Broadstreet. In the dying minutes with the score even at 5-5, Devizes were in a desperate situation with their backs to the wall as Broadstreet piled on the pressure inches from the try line.

An attempt to score was adjudged to have been held up, and great awareness from Guy Davies stopped another try. The midlands team were held to a 5-5 draw and as Devizes were the only undefeated team in their pool, and so moved through to meet Heathfield in the semi final.

Trowbridge were overhauled 10-0 by Gosport in ther other semi-final to prevent an all Wiltshire decider.

A weary Devizes, who had already played one match more than everyone else in the pool stages, went down to the East Sussex champions by a single try, marking the Saddleback's first defeat since October 2004.

It was a valiant defeat for the Devizes Piglets against high class team.