League: Stacey Jones in a different league

Stacey Jones. Picture / Paul Estcourt

It's said that you can take the kid out of Point Chevalier but you can't take the Point Chevalier out of the kid.

Stacey Jones might now know how to open a bottle of Bordeaux (and even know what a bottle of Bordeaux is), enjoy cold meats for breakfast and ask in French for a chicken baguette but he's still a guy who loves nothing more than to sup on a cold Lion Red while fishing for snapper off the coast of Northland.

"I loved my time in France," says Jones, who played in last night's opening Tri Nations test against Australia, "but it's very different. It's fantastic but it's not a lifestyle I could live with all of the time."

It's seemingly not a rugby league environment the Little General (or should that be le petit général?) could cope with all of the time, either.

After 11 years at the Warriors, and they weren't always the easiest of years, playing in France has been a real eye-opener. But, with the luxury of hindsight, he would still make the same decision to pack up his young family and head to Perpignan.

"It was pretty difficult at times," he concedes. "We're not as blessed as we were at the Warriors, where the facilities are second to none. The facilities we have [at Les Catalans] are probably the worst of the worst. It was right back to grassroots, which I guess was part of the reason I wanted to leave [the Warriors].

"The season feels twice as long, because there are 28 rounds and you also have the Challenge Cup so there were times when I thought, 'God, how long until the end of the season?' The footy wasn't the best but it wasn't just about the football."

In many respects, Les Catalans did better than expected, despite finishing last. They won their first Super League game, a 38-30 defeat of Wigan, and picked up eight victories in total, including one over grand finalists St Helens.

It was done against the backdrop of not having a permanent coach for the first eight weeks of the season and Jones missing 16 weeks after breaking an arm in the second round. They moulded a team out of passionate but inexperienced Frenchmen and a handful of seasoned pros and travelled to the UK every second weekend.

They were fortunate that they were exempt from relegation, and will be for two more seasons, meaning Castleford are facing up to life in the second division instead of the Dragons.

"It was a good learning curve for everyone," Jones says. "We will be a lot better next year. We have some good players coming and the coach has already set out a plan - this time last year, we had nothing."

Although his club has told him he's welcome to play past his two- season deal, it wouldn't be a surprise to see Jones returning to the NRL. "If I came back to the NRL, it would be to play good football in a good team and, you never know, win an NRL. That would be awesome but at this stage it's a dream. I still don't know if I'm going to play on because at my age, it's a year by year thing."

He maintains it won't be in a Warriors jersey: "I have done my time there," he insists. But it needs to be remembered he often insisted his international career was over before making countless comebacks.

One of the attractions of moving to France for Jones was enjoying some sort of anonymity after years of living in the goldfish bowl of New Zealand sport. To his friends and team-mates, he's cheeky and irreverent (it's hardly a surprise that most of the French he picked up was slang and swear words) but to the public, he is often viewed as shy and retiring.

"No one knew who I was," he says triumphantly of his time in France. "I would go to the supermarket and I don't think anyone spoke to me about football - although even if they did, I didn't know what they were saying. I loved that."

For now, though, he's loving being back in the Kiwis for the Tri Nations. He won't be embarking on any cross-hemisphere trips to witness the birth of his son before arriving just hours before a Tri Nations final and he won't be smuggled into camp after deciding to prolong his international career.

Once it's all over, there's little doubt he will jump in his runabout for a spot of fishing. It's the Point Chevalier way.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY