Bay rugby captain gets offer to play in S.A.

Press, 13 November 1981, Page 26

Bay rugby captain gets offer to play in S.A.

PA Rotorua The lure of a South African club could leave the Bay of Plenty rugby team ithout its captain in 1982. Craig Ross, who has fed the team since the 1979 season, is considering an offer from Durban’s Berea Rovers rugby club to play as a loose forward in its first division side next season. He was invited to play for the club by a member of the club who followed the Springbok tour of New Zealand as a supporter and recently received a letter from the club confirming the offer. The letter also said that the club would help him in the search for employment. Ross, a . 26-year-old Tauranga teacher, says he will lose his job at the end of the year because of teacher cutbacks. He has doubts, how-

ever, about getting a South African work permit. “I don’t want to go all the way there just to haVe to sit round for a season, so that is the main consideration as to whether I go,” he said. “The trip is still totally up in the air at the moment. Nothing definite has been arranged.” Ross was introduced to the Springbok captain, Wynand Claassen, by the supporter after the Bay of PlentySpringbok match. Claassen gave his personal recommendation of the Berea Club. Ross thinks that Claassen, a Durban player, may have had some part in the invitation being sent. Ross, a North Island reserve this year, says he intended visiting South Africa, even before the invitation came. “I am interested in the

country, and want to see it in my travels, if only to make my mind up about the situation there,” he said. “I think to be able to travel because of your rugby playing abilities is a great advantage. Rugby is also a good sport in which to make overseas social contacts.” He does not believe the Bay of Plenty team will suffer unduly in his absence: “There is sufficient depth in the Bay side for a number of players to take over the captaincy,” he said. “Something must be sacrificed if you are to travel.” If he decides to go, Ross would need to arrive in South Africa in March in time for the early start to that country’s rugby season. If he does accept the offer, Ross intends to return to New Zealand in time for the 1983 rugby season.