A few points about the model:

1: The recommended balance point is for stability. The airplane is intended for novices, and being a bit on the nose-heavy side makes the plane much more stable in pitch.

2: If the model flies more to your preference with a farther-aft balance point, then balance it there. Do whatever it takes...add weight, move things aft, and so on. the first thing to move aft would be the receiver battery pack. That's the most amount of moveable weight in the model. Don't worry about he wing rod. If you remove it, you'll have to replace it with something else, and you'll likely have little change in net weight or balance.

3: With any model, balancing is required. Variances in materials can make different models balance differently, even those in the same production run.