Big in Japan: Nawaqanitawase impressing new teammates in first week

Mark Nawaqanitawase has been with his new club in Japan for just one week, but Saitama Wild Knights attack coach Berrick Barnes says the former Roosters premiership winner is already impressing his new teammates.

Nawaqanitawase is expected to make his debut in a pre-season game against Tochigi Honda Heat on December 5, leaving him with just over a month to adjust to a new language and culture.

But Barnes, the former Wallabies playmaker who also worked with Nawaqanitawase as an assistant coach with the national team in 2023, has no doubts the star recruit will be an instant success.

According to Barnes, Nawaqanitawase’s exploits in rugby league, which also included a State of Origin series win with NSW, are mostly unknown to the Wild Knights’ Japanese squad members, given the small footprint the 13-man code has in the country.

But the winger’s arrival has still created significant excitement at club headquarters, even for a squad used to regularly training with World Cup-winning Springboks Lood de Jager and Damian de Allende.

“The Japanese boys don’t even know who he is, that’s the truth” Barnes said. “I mean a couple might, just because of all of us foreigners.

“But I’ll say this, I’ve never seen foreign players get nervous [at the Wild Knights]. Like, you can get the best All Blacks in the world walking through the door and they’ll be just like, ‘Hey mate, how are you going?’

“But there are a few of them who are genuinely nervous and excited to have him [Nawaqanitawase] come in the building. So I don’t see that too often. I’ll say that.”

Nawaqanitawase arrived in Japan at the start of November, but has already impressed with his reintegration into rugby after a two-and-a-half year absence.

“You can already see the leadership qualities [he has],” Barnes said. “He’s also got a positivity about him that breeds confidence in others; he genuinely believes not just in his own ability, but that of others and he gives others confidence.

“It’s only taken me a couple of days to see that, and it’s such a rare quality. There are guys who are good individually but who don’t have that ability to inspire others...

“He’s already watched some of our footage [before arriving], so Mark’s already so far ahead of where a lot of other foreigners start. It’s been really refreshing to see.”

After winning 51 Test caps, Barnes played for the Wild Knights from 2013 until 2018. Foreign players in Japanese rugby were rarer when Barnes arrived, and the former Wallaby had to learn enough of the language to survive on and off the field.

Today, however, Nawaqanitawase will benefit from most plays being called in English, and having a translator at training. The multicultural squad includes English, Tongan, South African, New Zealand and South Korean imports alongside the Japanese players, some of whom also work for the club’s owners, Panasonic.

The Wild Knights are based in the regional city of Kumagaya, which has a population of under 200,000. Barnes likens their location to the Brumbies in Canberra, and their winning culture to that of the NRL’s Melbourne Storm and Super Rugby’s Canterbury Crusaders.

The bright lights of Tokyo are just 40 minutes away by bullet train, but the players live in a smaller city that allows them to build their own unique identity.

After a successful career as a player and coach at the Wild Knights, Barnes advice to any foreign player, including Nawaqanitawase, is simple: Embrace the culture, and let your actions speak louder than words.

“You can’t impose your will on their culture, you know what I mean? You’ve got to adapt to the culture,” Barnes said.

“Just because you did something at the Wallabies or the All Blacks or the Springboks doesn’t mean it’s going to translate in this environment.

“I think the more, about the humble way you can come in, you embrace the boys and how they do things, and then you can slowly and subtly make changes over time.”

“The boys here respect action over words. They’ll never say it to your face, but most of them will smell bullshit a mile away.”

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