Junior Wallabies finish second at Oceania U20 Rugby Championships

Campbell has just returned from twelve days with the Australian U20 Rugby Team at the Oceania Junior Championships held at Bond University on the Gold Coast. The Australian team found this an invaluable stepping stone as they prepare for the World Rugby Junior Championships in Italy in June. It was the first year the inaugural Federation Oceania Rugby Union (FORU) tournament has taken place and comprised of four teams, Japan, Samoa, New Zealand and Australia. “It was a busy twelve days as we assembled three days before game one and had a lot of preparation to get through. We had a win first up against Samoa (33-10), managed to beat Japan who gave us a scare (47-31) and the real yardstick of where we are at was last night against the Junior All Blacks. We went down 46-29 but our boys hung in there and competed for most of the match. New Zealand are traditionally one of the strongest nations at this level and it has been the sort of preparation we have been lacking in previous years. Thankfully we got through the last game with no  injuries but we are carrying a few casualties from the earlier games”. The Australian team head home for five days before assembling at Narrabeen for a nine day camp and a game against the Australian Barbarians before flying to Parma, Italy late May where they will take on Samoa, Italy and South Africa in their pool games.