TIGHTHEAD prop Kym Townsend has revealed he and girlfriend Natalie will be moving back to their native Canterbury, in New Zealand, this summer.

After a season in Scotland in 2004-05 with second division Jed-Forest, Townsend joined the 'Stoke ranks last summer to help solve a front-row problem Jim Dixon was having.

The popular forward has been a big player for 'Stoke this season, making 18 full appearances, three more as a replacement, and he has also scored four tries.

The mechanic's time with the club got even better last Wednesday, when he and Dixon donned the All Blacks' shirt in a New Zealand Parliamentary representative side that took on the House of Commons at Twickenham.

Townsend is set to make his final 'Stoke appearance - not including the first-team tour to Prague - this weekend, away against Maidenhead in a South-West one clash.

Speaking about his time in Basingstoke - he has lived in Oakley with fellow front-rowers Shane Murphy and Andrew Rowlands since he moved from Gloucester - Townsend said: "Natalie and I would like to say how much fun we've had here and what a good time we've both had.

"The guys are a great bunch of guys and we have met and become friends with some great people, like Shane, Rowls, Jim and Kimberley, and many others.

"But, after a few years living away in the UK, it's time to go back home to New Zealand."

Townsend may not be the only Antipodean leaving Down Grange this summer.

Influential fly-half and backs coach Carl Marshall is unsure about his plans after a summer travelling and a return to his native Brisbane.

Marshall, too, has become a vital figure in the side and he won over a lot of unfounded doubters in his 20 games, plus three more as a replacement.

Additionally, he has scored six tries this season.

Dixon hopes he can persuade his friend, who is currently employed on a one-year contract as a sports teacher at a private school in Barnes, to come back.

The 'Stoke player-coach does not wish to lose another key back and someone who can control the 'Stoke game so well, now that Simon Humberstone has left.

Humberstone is spending the next six months in New Zealand playing for Heriot, near Dunedin on the South Island, before he starts university in Cardiff in September.

This season, the teenager proved just what a competitor of stature he has become, with his 267 points tally from 25 games, as well as two tries.

In his programme notes before the home game against Weston-super-Mare, 'Stoke chairman Steve Tristram thanked Humberstone for his contribution to the club he has been a member of since he was five.

He felt Humberstone's display against Weston proved "how much he has become a very good player, and how much the team will miss him".

He added: "We won't see him playing for Basingstoke for some time now but he will always be welcome, when he returns."

First published: Tuesday, April 18, 2006