THE Ravens hosted their first youth tournament last weekend in aid of Matt King, a London Broncos academy player whose career was ended by a serious injury earlier this season.

A high level of competition saw Ravens' under-11s make the final where fittingly they faced the Haringey Hornets youth team, as their respective open age sides would later.

The Ravens, fresh from success in their previous two tournaments, eased into an early lead, and despite a brief rally from the Hornets, who improved enormously throughout the day, the final score ended up 8-3 to the Ravens, with Freddie grabbing a hat-trick of tries.

He was supported by Harry Worrow and Gavin Jones, who both got two, while James Casey scored the other to allow captain Jack Candlin to collect the trophy, despite an injured ankle.

A couple of early tries in the adult game set the Hornets on their way, despite fierce protests from the Ravens at the decisions.

The Ravens sense of injustice rallied them though, and some huge drives from the forwards, led by Alex Oliver, kept them in the Hornets territory. The pressure eventually told when Joe Crampsie wriggled through three tacklers to score beneath the posts.

However, the half-time score of 10-6 did not last long as a lapse in concentration saw the Ravens concede two more quick tries. But the forward-led fight-back continued with impressive work from Matt Wilson, Dominic Rice and Oliver.

A stolen scrum saw Crampsie go over again and Alex Mills again added the two. Soon after hooker Ewan Drummond found space in the corner to bring the Ravens within four points of their opponents, who looked to be wilting as the Ravens continued their forward assault.

Prop Gareth Starling then held off three tacklers to go over near the posts and Mills, in a man of the match display, again slotted the conversion to give the Ravens the lead.

Despite having Crampsie sin-binned for dissent the Ravens defence worked hard to hold their lead, and was only breached late in the game when injuries began to take their toll.

Two late scores from Haringey took the game from the Ravens, and the score of 30-22 was not a fair reward for the effort and commitment they had shown.