HOLY Souls Raiders will represent Blackburn and Darwen in next weekend's Lancashire Youth Games after winning the Ford Tag Rugby competition for the second successive year.

The Blackburn school beat Holy Trinity in an exciting final that went all the way to sudden death before Raiders won 10-9 to lift the shield.

It was a fitting climax to an event which attracted 16 teams from 13 schools from across the borough.

And Holy Souls were denied an unprecedented 'double' when the Pirates finished as runners-up in the Plate competition, sponsored by Whittakers School Outfitters.

The 16 teams were divided into four pools. The top two teams in each pool went on to the play-offs for the shield, while the lower two teams had their own play-offs for the plate.

From the pool stages Sudell, Lammack Leopards, St Cuthberts Seals, Feniscowles Hawks, Ashleigh and Lammack Lions qualified for the Shield play-offs alongside Holy Souls Raiders and Holy Trinity.

The Plate play-offs included St Andrews, Roe Lee Park, Feniscowles Falcons, Barrow, St Francis, Lower Darwen, Holy Souls Pirates and St Cuthberts Shark.

Nearly all the games were closely fought with usually only one point separating the winners from the losers. The standard of play this year was very high, reflecting the fact that a lot of schools are starting to put Tag Rugby onto their curriculum. After the quarter finals, the line-up for the semi-finals saw Sudell play Holy Souls Raiders and Holy Trinity against Feniscowles Hawks in the Shield with Roe Lee Park and St Andrews and St Francis and Holy Souls Pirates in the Plate.

Having now played five games each, the legs were starting to get weary. However, the enthusiasm was still there to carry Holy Souls Raiders and Holy Trinity into the final of the Shield and Roe Lee Park and Holy Souls Pirates into the final of the Plate.

The Plate final saw Roe Lee Park with the task of stopping Holy Souls picking up both trophies. The game was close fought, so much so that it was tied two each at full time. In extra time it was first to score wins, and again it was no easy task for either side. Then in the third minute, Shane Peel went over in the corner to score the winning try and Roe Lee Park took home the silverware.

The Shield final was a re-run of last year and Holy Trinity were looking to avenge last year's defeat when they lost to Holy Souls in extra time. This year's final was even harder fought with both teams having good attacking lines. At full time the score was 6-6and went into extra time.

Both sides continued their free-flowing rugby and at the turn aorund it was 8-8. Both sides scored yet again to take the score to 9-9 but in the last minute Zac Collinge sprinted up the wing to score the winning try for Holy Souls Raiders who claimed the trophy for the second successive year. Other try scorers for Holy Souls were Darryl Hall, Jordan Hamilton, Jenny Woodruff and Daniel Perkins while Paul Davis, Ian Surples and Ashley Jepson were some of the try scorers for Holy Trinity.

Blackburn Rugby Club would like to thank all the children, teachers and parents who have made the competition so successful.

Training for boys and girls, aged between eight to 16-years-old will take place at the club on Wednesday nights throughout the summer months and on Sunday mornings during the season.

A summer school is also being held from the August 7-11 and for details contact the club on 01254 247669.