Craig Ross Innes (born 10 September 1969), also known by the

nickname A nickname is a substitute for the proper name of a familiar person, place or thing. Commonly used to express affection, a form of endearment, and sometimes amusement, it can also be used to express defamation of character. As a concept, it is ...

of ''"Postie"'', is a New Zealand former

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

and

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 11 ...

footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s. After a successful rugby union career which saw him represent his country he switched to rugby league, playing in both England and Australia, winning the 1996 ARL Premiership, before playing out the last years of his career in rugby union in New Zealand.

Background

Craig Innes was born in New Plymouth on the West Coast of New Zealand's North Island on 10 September 1969.

Rugby union

Innes played

in New Zealand and made his international début at age 20 on the wing in a Test against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

during the All Blacks' 1989 tour of Wales and Ireland. He scored two tries on début. Innes went on to play in 17 tests for the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987, ...

, including the

1991 Rugby World Cup The 1991 Rugby World Cup was the second edition of the Rugby World Cup, and was jointly hosted by England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and France: at the time, the five European countries who participated in the Five Nations Championship. This was ...

Rugby league

Innes turned professional in 1992, leaving New Zealand to join English

club

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...

. He helped Leeds reach the

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

and 1995 Challenge Cup finals, playing against former All Black teammate

Va'aiga Tuigamala Va'aiga Lealuga Tuigamala Pulelua Fesola'i (4 September 1969 – 24 February 2022), sometimes known as Inga Tuigamala, was a professional rugby union and rugby league footballer. Born in Samoa, he represented New Zealand in rugby union, winnin ...

in both matches. Innes' move to Australia to play for new

ARL ARL may refer to: Military * US Navy hull classification symbol for repair ship * Admiralty Research Laboratory, UK * United States Army Research Laboratory * ARL 44, a WWII French tank Organizations * Aero Research Limited, a UK adhesives comp ...

outfit, the

Western Reds The Western Reds were a rugby league football club based in Perth, Western Australia. Founded in 1992 as the Western Reds, they entered into the Australian Rugby League competition in 1995 before defecting to the rival Super League competition ...

in the 1995 season brought threats of legal action from Leeds. He returned to England to make the last of his 135 appearances for Leeds before leaving the club in 1996, shortly before the start of the inaugural Super League season. Australian club

Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Sydney's Northern Beaches. The team colours are maroon and white, while their namesake and logo is the sea eagle. They compete in Australia's premier rugb ...

secured his services for the 1996 ARL Premiership season, and he played alongside fellow former All Black,

Matthew Ridge Matthew John Ridge (born 27 August 1968) is a New Zealand television presenter, and a former rugby union and rugby league footballer. A fullback in both codes, Ridge played rugby union for Auckland and became an All Black, but never won an in ...

in the Sea Eagles'

Grand final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. S ...

victory that year, scoring the first try of the match. At the height of the

Super League war The Super League war was a commercial competition between the Australian Rugby League (ARL) and the Australian Super League to establish pre-eminence in professional rugby league competition in Australia and New Zealand in the mid-1990s. Super ...

in 1997 Innes was unable to play representative rugby league for

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

due to the

New Zealand Rugby League The New Zealand Rugby League (NZRL) is the governing body for the sport of rugby league football in New Zealand. SPARC, 2009: 13 The NZRL was founded on 25 April 1910 in preparation for a tour of Great Britain that same year.Coffey and Wood '' ...

's alignment with Super League, and his club Manly's alignment with the

Australian Rugby League The Australian Rugby League Commission (ARL), formerly the Australian Rugby Football League known as the Australian Rugby League is an Australian rugby league football competition operator. It was founded in 1986 as the Australian Rugby Footbal ...

. He did however appear in one match for a 'Rest of the World' team assembled to play against the ARL's Australian side. With the ARL isolated from the other international bodies during the

, they instigated a game against a Rest of the World side to give its players a chance to represent internationally. The world side included high-profile British Test players Gary Connolly and Jason Robinson who had signed contracts promising to eventually join an ARL club. This was the only time the ARL granted Test status to a Rest of the World encounter. Innes thus became a

dual-code rugby international A dual-code rugby international is a rugby footballer who has played at the senior international level in both codes of rugby, 13-a-side rugby league and 15-a-side rugby union. Rugby league started as a breakaway version of rugby in Northern Eng ...

in that match. Innes' club, the Sea Eagles were minor premiers in the

1997 ARL season The 1997 Australian Rugby League season was the 90th season of professional rugby league football in Australia, and the third season run by the Australian Rugby League. While several clubs had left the League to compete in the 1997 Super Leagu ...

, and reached the grand final, in which he scored a try, but it was not enough to defeat Newcastle. At the end of the 1997 season, Innes returned to New Zealand to play out the rest of his football career in the Super 12 rugby union competition for the Auckland Blues. Since retirement from playing, he has been involved in professional player management.

Personal life

Craig has two children and was married to former model, television host and judge on

New Zealand's Next Top Model ''New Zealand's Next Top Model'' (''NZNTM'') is a New Zealand reality television series in which a number of young women compete for the title of ''New Zealand's Next Top Model'' and the chance to start their career in the modeling industry. The ...

, Sara Tetro.

References

External links

*(archived by web.archive.org
Craig Innes at nrlstats.comCraig Innes at sporting-heroes.net
*(archived by web.archive.org
Profile at leedsrugby
{{DEFAULTSORT:Innes, Craig 1969 births Living people Auckland rugby league team players Bedford Blues players Dual-code rugby internationals Leeds Rhinos players Manly Warringah Sea Eagles players New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in England New Zealand international rugby union players New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand rugby union players Ponsonby RFC players Rugby league centres Rugby league players from New Plymouth Rugby union players from New Plymouth Wainuiomata Lions players Western Reds players