Portugal Rugby Youth Festival: Victory for Jess Campbell and the Melbourne Kangaroos

The Melbourne Kangaroos won the girls U19 division of the Portugal Rugby Youth Festival.

Photo: Portugal Rugby Youth Festival.

First-year Monash student and Rugby Union young gun, Jessica Campbell, was fortunate enough to compete in Lisbon at the Portugal Rugby Youth Festival, representing Melbourne and more broadly Australia.

The international competition took place in early April and saw teams from all over the globe, predominately Europe, match-up against each other in a round-robin style tournament.

Jess and her squad of future rugby superstars competed in five 30-minute matches across two days of competition, including a grand final birth after going undefeated throughout the festivals group stages.

The ‘Melbourne Kangaroos’ defeated Portugal’s ‘Lobinhas’ 14-15, marking them as winners of the girl’s under-19 division of the festival. Jess said the victory was a surprise as her team was shorthanded with a few players unable to make the trip overseas.

“We won the final by a point, we beat Portugal’s representative team which was exciting,” Jess said.

“It definitely wasn’t expected, our team struggled to get all together in the end because obviously going overseas is a pretty big task and everything involved with that, so we had a few girls who couldn’t make it.

“I think by the end [of the festival] our backs had no subs, so in the final everyone played - I think in the end the final was 40 minutes - so we played the full 40 minutes which was a bit tough but we all got through.”

The Melbourne Kangaroos were Australia's representatives at #PRYF19.

Photo: Portugal Rugby Youth Festival.

Jess relished the opportunity to show off her talents away from home, excited to be competing internationally.

“It gets a bit boring in your own country so it’s good to spread out,” Jess said.

“It gave us the ability to play different teams overseas and different styles of rugby are played over there, so it was good to see.”

Prior to heading overseas, Jess spent some time with the Melbourne Rebels playing in the under-18 school girls competition and was subsequently selected as a member of the Rebels academy.

Now with the Youth Festival behind her Jess plans on keeping busy, preparing for Super W trials later in the year which would see her re-join the Melbourne Rebels and represent Victoria at a state level.

“At the end of the year I have Super W trials to play for them again, so fingers are crossed I get in,” Jess said.

“I’m currently trying for the AON sevens which is the University sevens so I hope to make that but I’d really like to get into the Super W team for Victoria.”

Jess is currently completing a Bachelor of Science at Monash and is a member of the Universities ‘Elite Student Performer Scheme’. Congratulations on your efforts overseas Jess, we can’t wait to see what you do next!

Written by Joseph Arthur, Media Coordinator