The Isle of Man under-18s rugby squad enjoyed a successful first trip off island, finishing third at Pocklington School’s annual 10s competition on Saturday.

The 16-strong Manx party impressed in Yorkshire, taking on sides from the hosts, Bradford, Durham and Ampleforth.

Reflecting on the trip, the island’s rugby development officer Chris Brannigan said: ’It was a superb first weekend away with the under-18s at Pocklington with some solid victories and both losses only by one try.

’The lads got off to a fantastic start by beating Ampleforth 26-5. We then made wholesale changes and lost to Durham 19-12.

’After that we were unlucky to draw with the hosts 5-5 after they scored with the last play.

’Because we finished top of the group via bonus points, we played Mount St Mary’s who, despite their reputation, we kept up with.

’We ended up losing that fixture 14-7 which meant we played Pocklington again in a third-place play-off, this time winning convincingly 17-0.

’It was a super experience for both players and coaches. We learnt a lot from the day and hope to put it in practice in the future.

’The lads all performed magnificently on the day, but special mention should go to Blake Snell and Luca Simmons who kept the team ticking over all day while co-captain Jamie Raatgever was named our ’Player of the Day’.

’He was everywhere on the pitch and a superb example to his team-mates.’

The squad have been training together since November and plan to travel to other sevens and 10s competitions before the end of the season.

Next up for the fledgling squad is a trip to the North of England Schools Sevens on March 10.