Whangārei teen needs help sending rugby gear to Mozambique

Whangārei student JacquiCameron is all about encouraging girls to play rugby.

So when she and mum Andrea came across an advertisement a few weeks ago for a Mozambique women's rugby team needing donations and gear, the Kamo High School student wanted to help to swung into action.

"I'm a supporter of trying to get women's rugby up and going and all the girls joining rugby," she said.

"We had a look and watched a video. There was just lots of girls and all sorts of people running around and having fun but they were playing in mud and they didn't have a lot of objects to use.

"They had a rugged rugby ball, they didn't have any clothes or mouth guards or headgear so I thought I could help them out and sponsor them and give them things they need."

Jacqui Cameron, 13, needs help sending this gear to Mozambique. Photo/Michael Cunningham

So the 13-year-old, who plays rugby for Marist and coaches under 5s and under 7s, got thinking about how she could help, jumped in to action and sent a message to ADEDAR - an organisation to develop rugby in the African country - which posted the videos.

In three weeks she has collected more than 100 jerseys from the Kamo Rugby Club and Marist Rugby Club, lots of rugby balls, mouth guards and other gear.

But they need help to get it to Mozambique.

"We were a bit naive in thinking it wouldn't cost that much to send. We had no idea. It's about $1800 to get it there," Andrea said.

Jacqui started playing rugby when she was 8 after signing up on the spot when she went to join the hockey team.

She loves it and knows how hard it is to get girls rugby up and running - she played rugby this season with the boys but she's not sure what will happen next year.

Jacqui said girls can play in teams with boys until the age of 14 but you can't play women's rugby until you are over 16 - at the moment there is nothing in between in Northland.

"It's hard enough in Northland to get up and running, how hard would it be in Mozambique? I want more women and girls to get involved in the sport," Jacqui said

If anyone can help get the gear to Mozambique email a.m.j.z.cameron@gmail.com