With the road to a Test career seemingly closed to him, former Bulls captain Jono Ross has settled in France. GAVIN MORTIMER reports.
It was December 2014 when Jono Ross arrived in Paris. The European winter was at its fiercest, but that was no problem for the man who was swapping the heat of Pretoria for the cold of the French capital. An 11-month spell with Saracens as an 18-year-old had educated Ross in the rigours of the northern-hemisphere climate.
The fact that the versatile loose forward arrived at a club on the up, also helped banish the winter blues.
Two and a bit years ago, Stade Francais were climbing the Top 14 table, an ascent that would ultimately lead to winning the French title six months later in front of 80 000 fans at the Stade de France. Ross was on the bench that day, coming on for the final quarter in the 12-6 defeat of Clermont. He was one of four Saffas in the Stade Francais squad – Morné Steyn, Heinke van der Merwe and Meyer Bosman were the others. How distant that day now seems. Stade spent most of last season in a relegation fight, eventually finishing 12th, and this season is only marginally better with the Parisians sitting 10th on the table by mid-January.
One place above them were Racing 92, who succeeded their Parisian neighbours as Top 14 champions when they beat Toulon in last season’s final. So why have both clubs struggled to maintain their title-winning form?
As far as Stade goes, Ross says: ‘Last year we were far too relaxed on the back of winning the title. If you look at the Bulls when they won three successive Currie Cup titles [2002-04], mentally they began each new season from scratch and not as reigning champions. Whereas at Stade we believed we were still champions when the 2015-16 season began.’
There are other reasons, too, why Stade Francais have struggled to replicate their form of two years ago. ‘It’s been over a year since we last won away,’ says Ross, when he met SA Rugby magazine in a Parisian coffee house.
He’s exasperated, and mystified, at how that can be. ‘It shows there is something wrong culturally, and I can’t explain how a team can put in good performances at home against big rivals only to go away and lose to clubs that are not so big.’
Then again, it must be hard to focus fully on matches when for much of the season Stade Francais have been in the headlines for the wrong reasons. Rumours began circulating in the French press in October that the club’s wealthy owner, Thomas Savare, was considering selling because of financial pressure. As if to give credence to these rumours, a succession of players announced they would be leaving at the end of the season, including France internationals Rabah Slimani, Hugo Bonneval and Raphael Lakafia. Then came the worst news of all … head coach Gonzalo Quesada would also be departing in June.
‘We’ve had some tough times with a lot of good, young players leaving,’ says Ross. ‘I think Gonzalo reached a tipping point and in the end decided it would be for the best if he left because he felt the club needed a change.’
Ross, however, isn’t going anywhere, having recently signed an extension until 2020, and Steyn, Bosman, Willem Alberts and former Sharks hooker Craig Burden will also be there next season. Whether Savare will still be president remains to be seen, but the Stade owner has promised the players he won’t leave the club in the lurch.
‘I think if he got a good offer, he might sell,’ says Ross. ‘But Thomas has assured us he would never sell to someone who he felt would let the club get into trouble.’
Another player who’s sticking around is No 8 Sergio Parisse, the man who captained Italy to their historic victory over the Springboks in November. ‘He’s an icon at Stade Francais,’ says Ross. ‘He has an aura about him. Sometimes he can rub people up the wrong way, but he’s very passionate about his rugby and he’s a winner.’
So, what about South Africa? As a Saffa looking in from the outside, what does Ross make of the Boks’ turmoil? ‘It’s been tough to watch,’ he admits. ‘But I’m optimistic it was a glitch year and that we can move forward. We’ve been through this before, if you think back to 2002-03, and so have most countries.
Look at England, who had a disastrous 2015 World Cup and then went unbeaten last year.
'There’s quality in the Bok squad, although we lack leaders and that’s why I think it’s important we get Duane Vermeulen back. He’s the sort of leader we need.’
Ross has resigned himself to never realising his dream of playing for South Africa, but he hasn’t given up entirely the idea of experiencing international rugby. Or at least he hadn’t until Bernard Laporte was elected the new president of the French Rugby Federation in December, and promptly announced that in future only players in possession of a French passport would wear the blue jersey.
‘When I came over I never considered playing for France,’ says Ross. ‘But as time’s gone on I feel I’ve done quite well at Stade Francais and it’s become a possibility. Under the current rules I qualify next year, but it looks like the residency rule is going to be increased from three to five years. And anyway, if you need to have a French passport, that takes five years of living in the country, so that would be the end of 2019, by which time I’d be nearly 30.’
Ross adds there’s also been interest from the UK, due to an English grandparent, but that would require him to join an English club.
He’s happy in Paris. Sure, playing Test rugby would be a great experience, but Ross is a rounded character who enjoys life. He and his Zimbabwean girlfriend, Hailey, love the French capital with its culture, its coffee shops and, of course, its cold.
FROM PRETORIA TO PARIS
Ross made his Super Rugby debut for the Bulls in 2013 and in that year’s Currie Cup he became their first English-speaking skipper. Though he signed a contract at the end of 2013, Ross was allowed to leave Pretoria 12 months later to join Stade.
Reflecting on that period, he says: ‘I was the first English-speaking captain and whatever people might say, that does make a slight difference … particularly because in that first Currie Cup season we did badly [the Bulls finished fourth and were beaten 31-23 by WP in their semi-final]. I was taking a lot of criticism from the public and it was the first time I was in the spotlight. It was tough.
'I was 22, 23 and I felt that no matter what I did, I was always going to be this terrible English rugby player. [Coach] Frans Ludeke kept backing me, even when I had some bad performances, but when Gonzalo Quesada phoned, I felt it was the right time to go.’
– This article first appeared in the March 2017 issue of SA Rugby magazine
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