Rugby: The contrasting natures of Carlos

Carlos Spencer says he is more than ready to move on from his five years in Britain. Photo / Getty Images

It is too easy to call Carlos Spencer an enigma, but one thing is indisputable: there are few sports figures in New Zealand whose personality has ever been so at odds with their image.

On the field he is the strutting peacock whose sustained brilliance is now and again counter-balanced by a brainfade. By his teens he was tattooed and sporting the first of what would be 100 different hairstyles. He even rode a Harley, for heaven's sake.

So how do you reconcile that with the fact he is also, according to those who know him best, one of the tidiest humans that ever lived, a keen cook, landscape gardener, dog lover and dedicated husband to Jodene and father to Payton, 5, and 2-year-old Asha?

How do you reconcile an image of a supposed mercenary rugby player whose loyalty is dictated by a chequebook, with a guy who, on hearing that his manager's wife had died suddenly last year, flew halfway across the world for her funeral, led an emotion-charged haka for the deceased, then went back to the airport to fly back and rejoin his club.

You can't - so what you try to do is start with a blank page. It's what the Lions did when they signed him to a lucrative 18-month deal that will see him play two Super rugby seasons for the South African Super 14 side and act as player-coach for them in the Currie Cup.

It has been greeted with some cynicism in New Zealand, fuelled by tittle-tattle out of the Blues this week that he was asking for Carter/McCaw-type money to come back to the only franchise he had ever played for.

Spencer neatly sidestepped potential controversy with a "one door closes, another one opens" attitude, so it is the republic, more specifically Johannesburg, that will see the last of Spencer the playmaker.

"It's absolutely perfect timing for me," he says. "I'm coming towards the end of my career and to have another season of Super 14 and do some coaching is ideal.

"I'm looking at this long-term as well, not just the next couple of years. If anything comes up afterwards I would be more than happy to stay on and plan my future over there."

Spencer is speaking from the Gloucester home he and Jodene are frantically trying to vacate in time for their flight south. There are cars to sell, furniture to put in storage and the small matter of trying to arrange for their beloved dog to be flown out to South Africa.

"It's chaos, mate," he laughs.

But it's a move that will be done with a smile. After five years in England - three with Northampton and 18 months with Gloucester - he's more than ready to move on.

He does not want to come across as an ingrate, but he has to concede there is not a lot he'll miss about Britain.

"Umm, not really, mate, to be honest. It's nice travel-wise. You're so handy to everything.

"I've made some really good friends over here and I'll miss them but I'm just so looking forward to getting out of this weather. The winters are long and the summers are very short. I wouldn't even call it a summer, if I'm being honest."

The sun will be warm on his back in Johannesburg, home of the Lions, but that's not really what is getting Spencer's juices flowing. The Super 14 is rugby the way he likes it played.

After spending the past 18 months in and out of a Gloucester side that, like so many of their English counterparts, mercilessly squeeze life out of the game, Spencer is looking forward to having a licence to catch and pass, and even have the odd dart here and there.

While several of his Antipodean mates have played a couple of seasons in Britain and expressed a new appreciation for the rugby, Spencer is not joining that queue.

"I don't know about appreciation," he says. "It's definitely a lot tougher over here in some ways. It is more of a grind. The weather conditions determine the way a lot of teams play, but the biggest obstacle is the mindset - it is completely different over here.

"I don't know why, it can't all be to do with the conditions. It's probably more to do with the standard of players, the calibre and skills of the players. To be honest, there are only three or four teams that try to play rugby over here. The rest are dominated by forward play and a lot of kicking.

"It's just a different game to what I'm used to playing back home. As you go along you learn that it's the way they are and you can't change it. You just learn to get on with things and carry on, but yeah, it does get bloody frustrating at times."

The three teams that get the Spencer seal of approval? London Irish get the biggest tick alongside the club he used to star for, Northampton. According to Spencer they like to play a catch-and-pass game, while "Leicester don't mind putting it through the hands from time to time", but other than that there's not a lot to get excited about.

"There's been a lot of criticism over here at the start of the season about not enough tries being scored and there being too much kicking. It's been a big criticism of the premiership."

In truth, it has been a big criticism of rugby in general, whether it be the Zurich Premiership, international rugby and, yes, even the Super 14. But with a Sanzar diktat in place demanding more enterprising rugby, Spencer should feel more at home, even at the previously stodgy Lions.

Close your eyes and try to picture Spencer, the Maori kid from Levin, leading a pack of Afrikaners around Ellis Park. It's not easy.

"It a place I never thought I'd end up," he admits. "But these things have a funny way of working out. You're never sure what's going to pop up along the way. It's another challenge in my life, another experience and one that I am looking forward to."

A former teammate has few doubts that Spencer, who admits he has barely watched a minute of Super rugby since leaving the Blues in 2005, will be able to adjust. Again perhaps at odds with the No 10's image, Craig Dowd reveals that Spencer is one of the most dedicated trainers he has come across.

Spencer came to Auckland as a precocious talent but joined a province full of All Blacks, some legendary, who had little time for teenage reputations. Spencer earned their respect, not through his outrageous on-field repertoire, but his off-field habits.

"His work ethic was extremely high," recalled Dowd. "His training ethic was superb. He always went over and above whatever was prescribed by the trainers and that was impressive.

"Carlos was someone you could always trust would turn up in peak physical condition.

"I was talking to a guy who knows him well just the other day. He was telling me his alarm still went off every two hours so that he times his meals properly. He is like that, he's a religious 'pre-habber' and 'rehabber'."

On the field, things are never as routine as that for Spencer. He owned the pass to himself, he made the banana kick briefly trendy. He also eschewed the chance of dotting down under the posts after a last-minute, length-of-the-field try at Jade Stadium in 2003 against the Crusaders, instead choosing to taunt the locals by running to the corner, placing the ball then slotting the sideline conversion that denied the Cantabrians a bonus point.

He also, it has to be said, threw the pass that went to Stirling Mortlock in 2003 that lifted the scab once more on the All Blacks' World Cup insecurities.

Just as it's too convenient to label his image "enigmatic", calling his playing style "mercurial" is too trite - but he did have a knack of taking fans and coaches on a roller-coaster ride.

"He was always willing to try something different and I think he gave Graham Henry a few grey hairs before his time," Dowd recalls.

Back then it was always Carlos or Mehrts, with little room for compromise on either side of the line. Eventually the two brilliant flyhalves would be eclipsed by an even gaudier talent, Daniel Carter.

Still, the prospect of Spencer and Carter pairing off when the Lions visit the remodelled AMI Stadium is a tasty prospect, but not one that Spencer views with any trepidation.

"The Crusaders at Jade [AMI] Stadium - I'm definitely looking forward to that one," he laughs. "We've got a tough tour. We have two home games then we're five weeks on the road. Mate, that's going to be interesting times. We've got the Waratahs, the Brumbies, the Hurricanes, Crusaders and Highlanders."

While Spencer's demands and the reticence of the NZRU have been blamed for his not coming home, those close to the talks told the Herald it was ultimately the Blues who decided against turning the clock back.

Any extra motivation for that game, then? "I don't think so," he says. "You try to play at your best no matter who you play. There'll be more banter than anything."

Whether Spencer's sense of humour translates well into Afrikaans remains to be seen, but the early signs are good. Last week he flew to Johannesburg for a few days, to do a bit of househunting and join the Lions for a two-day camp.

"They were bloody great. They welcomed me with open arms. We went away for a couple of days and had a bit of fun, had a couple of quiet beers together so it was a great way to meet the guys and the management."

What he probably won't be doing is going through a catalogue of last year's Super 14 matches to school himself up on the latest trends.

"To be honest, I don't watch a lot of rugby. My downtime is exactly that, downtime. I play and that's it really.

"My kids keep me pretty busy. I don't like to focus on rugby 24/7, never have. I like to get away from it. If I'm not bloody training or playing rugby my kids want me doing stuff with them, so I do."

Given his obvious dedication to his children, the prospect of taking them to Johannesburg, invariably rated in travel guide lists in the top 10 most dangerous cities alongside the likes of Kingston, Jamaica, and Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, must have given pause for thought.

"Not really. I've been to Jo'burg a few times and have a fairly good idea about what the place is like. With the crime rate and the things you hear that go on there, you've got to be aware of it, but my wife and I decided that you can't worry about things like that.

"You have to carry on with life and grab opportunities like this with both hands.

"I spent the last few days over there and was driving around during the day and at night and everything seemed as it would in a normal country.

"I'm not expecting any problems, but like I say, you never know until you get over there."

The last sentence is, in a twisted sort of way, probably how the Lions are viewing Carlos Spencer too.