{"id":468223,"date":"2026-02-09T09:21:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T09:21:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/468223\/"},"modified":"2026-02-09T09:21:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T09:21:11","slug":"mark-nawaqanitawase-move-to-saitama-wild-knights-rugby-confirmed-vows-to-help-sydney-roosters-to-premiership-first","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/468223\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Nawaqanitawase move to Saitama Wild Knights rugby confirmed, vows to help Sydney Roosters to premiership first"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australian cross-code international winger Mark Nawaqanitawase will head to Japan to play rugby union for the Saitama Wild Knights later this year.<\/p>\n

The 25-year-old has starred for the Sydney Roosters in the NRL after spending four years in rugby union with Super Rugby\u2019s Waratahs.<\/p>\n

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Nawaqanitawase has 11 rugby union caps for the Wallabies and will move to Japan for the 2026-27 season ahead of next year\u2019s World Cup in Australia.<\/p>\n

The winger, who has also represented his country in rugby league, said it was \u201ca huge honour\u201d to join six-time Japan champions Saitama.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are a very strong team that has experienced a lot of success and it is a club which carries a rich history,\u201d he said in a statement released by the club.<\/p>\n

Mark Nawaqanitawase. Picture: NRL PhotosSource: Supplied<\/p>\n

\u201cI am looking forward to becoming part of the Wild Knights and I am looking forward to what we can build together in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saitama did not disclose the length of Nawaqanitawase\u2019s contract but reports in Australia said he had signed a lucrative two-year deal.<\/p>\n

He joins fellow Australian Marika Koroibete at Saitama and will also play with South African World Cup winners Damian de Allende and Lood de Jager.<\/p>\n

Nawaqanitawase will remain with the Roosters for the 2026 NRL season. While labelling his upcoming move to Japan \u201cprobably the toughest decision of my career\u201d, he said he\u2019s determined to help the club claim silverware.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to walk out of here with a premiership with the lads,\u201d Nawaqanitawase told <\/a>CODE Sports<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Haas and Reynolds departures confirmed | 01:54<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got an awesome group here already. I\u2019m sure you\u2019ve seen some of the players in the team, that\u2019s credit to Nick and Trent and the way they do their stuff away to get all the boys together.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d love to win the premiership, that would be a great way to end my time here. It\u2019s coming to an end at this very moment, so it\u2019d be a good way to walk out.\u201d<\/p>\n

And Nawaqanitawase is eyeing more rep footy experience \u2014 both at state and international level.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose are bonuses to the way you play for your club, obviously State of Origin is massive, I\u2019d love to be a part of that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cKangaroos, anything representative is always nice to be a part of.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saitama, who are coached by former Wallabies boss Robbie Deans, are currently top of the Japan Rugby League One table after seven games of the season.<\/p>\n

\u2014 AFP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australian cross-code international winger Mark Nawaqanitawase will head to Japan to play rugby union for the Saitama Wild…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":468224,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[18743,239310,1724,64,63,689,239316,4428,239311,239313,239315,12732,78541,9239,1208,2057,941,174301,761,762,3583,158,677,13390,239314,141724,224254,224262,239312,85,1080],"class_list":["post-468223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-adam-reynolds","tag-ashes-match","tag-asia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-australian-cross-code","tag-brisbane-broncos","tag-club-claim-silverware","tag-cross-code-international-winger","tag-damian-de-allende","tag-dan-ginnane","tag-dave-donaghy","tag-eastern-asia","tag-england","tag-europe","tag-japan","tag-japan-rugby-league-one","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-northern-europe","tag-nrl","tag-oceania","tag-payne-haas","tag-rep-footy-experience","tag-robbie-deans","tag-rugby-signings","tag-rugby-signings-shake","tag-rugby-union-caps","tag-sports","tag-sydney-roosters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=468223"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468223\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/468224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=468223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=468223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=468223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}