VETERAN players from Devizes Rugby Club will fly the flag for the county at the Commonweath Games after being invited to take part in a Golden Oldies tournament at Eccles RFC, Salford on Saturday.

The light-hearted event is part of the Games' Festival of Friendship and will feature 11 clubs from across the country.

Host team EGOR, which stands for Evergreens of Rugby, invited clubs from other commonwealth countries such as Fiji, Zimbabwe, Australia and New Zealand, but have received no positive responses from any of them.

That leaves Devizes as the club with the longest distance to travel to the tournament and club president Rick Kibby will skipper a 20-strong squad of over 40's in the 40-50 years age group category.

Kibby is looking forward to the weekend, dubbed the Devizes Saga, but is certainly not taking it too seriously.

He said: "We haven't done any altitude training for it yet.

"I haven't played properly for ten years, but most of the others played regularly for our over 35s veterans team, the seconds and the thirds last season.

"But it is certainly something different for us. The whole thing is being put on as part of the Commonwealth Games, albeit a minuscule part of it, and it will be an honour to represent the south of England."

Although the tournament has met with a lukewarm response from other clubs in the country, Kibby said he is glad Devizes are taking part in the spectacle.

He said: "It should be good. Someone from Eccles got in contact with us and we decided to go for it. I wouldn't say the ones that are going are volunteers, I have just told them they are playing and that's it."

A Devizes XV will play in three matches of 15 minutes each way at the tournament, where there are no awards for the winning teams. Other teams involved include the Pacemakers from the Isle of Man and Sanatogens from the Wirral.

Players up to the age of 90 are expected to take part and teams play under Golden Oldie rules, with rolling substitutions allowed throughout the matches.

Organiser Brian Minor said: "We are looking forward to welcoming Devizes and it is nice that they will take all that trouble to come up and play.

"The whole idea is to have a bit of fun. All of us have played for a long, long time and hopefully we will show that the brain is going in the right direction even if the legs don't take us there.

"Every team will play three matches and at the end of the day the results won't matter and we can all enjoy a beer."

l Devizes Rugby Club have started their pre-season preparations for the new campaign and are training on Tuesdays and Thursdays at the Sports Club in London Road.

Training takes place between 7pm and 9pm under the guidance of Gareth Jones and ex-Bath under 21 coach Dave Sullivan. The duo will be assisted by special guest coaches.

The club have also invested in improving the first XV pitch ahead of the new season and are preparing a new second pitch. The first team will again be captained by James Gaiger.

Craig Hicks-Frazer succeeds Paul Dyton as second XV captain and Rob Edwards is the new third XV skipper.