By CHRIS RATTUE
Discarded Chiefs utility forward Api Naevo is on the verge of signing a two-year deal to play in Japan.
The Fijian World Cup utility forward has been lured by a large contract and will be lost to Counties-Manukau for their NPC campaign, thus joining the raft of players who have headed overseas.
Rumours continue to swirl about other players, such as Carlos Spencer and Andrew Blowers, who the British media have claimed are about to join Leicester and Bristol respectively.
Naevo's impending departure is another reminder that overseas money will continue to peck away at the depth of the game here.
The 27-year-old Naevo, who is also in the champion Fijian sevens team, will play for Kaneka, an engineering firm near Kobe. Their side includes former All Blacks Arran Pene and Ant Strachan.
Naevo has been given a release by the New Zealand Rugby Football Union, has visited his prospective club and is due to return to Japan today.
The only hurdle to him signing would be if Japanese rugby turned down his application for a late registration.
Naevo was brought to New Zealand by the Pukekohe club and has played 24 games for Counties Manukau since 1995. He had five games for the Blues in 1998 when the Steelers were part of that franchise, then followed his union into the Chiefs franchise and played seven Super 12 games off the bench last season.
But because of Fiji's World Cup commitments, Naevo did not appear in the NPC last year and Counties-Manukau coach Andrew Talaimanu believes that may have hurt his chances of getting another Super 12 contract.
"It is a big blow for us especially with all the experience we will lose," said Talaimanu.
"The Japanese are pretty strict about not letting their players play elsewhere so we've lost him.
"We didn't really criticise him or try and talk him out of going - the money on offer in Japan is astronomical compared to what Counties can offer.
"I guess New Zealand is always going to have players leaving for that reason. If professional sports people lose their contract then they will go somewhere else to feed themselves."
The base Super 12 contract is $65,000 but the sort of provincial contract Naevo was left with, after failing to make the Chiefs, would only be worth a few thousand dollars.
Rugby: Discarded Naevo has yen for change
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