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<\/a> <\/p>\nFormer Samoa<\/a> centre and head coach Seilala Mapusua has joined Japan<\/a> Rugby League One outfit, Kubota Spears, as an assistant coach. It marks a return to Kubota for Mapusua, who played there in the latter stages of his decorated career.<\/p>\n Mapusua had been on the lookout for a new job since Moana Pasifika<\/a> folded at the end of the Super Rugby season and is now part of head coach Frans Ludeke\u2019s coaching team.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel immense joy and excitement at this new challenge, returning to Kubota Spears<\/a> Funabashi Tokyo-Bay as a coach, 15 years after joining as a player,\u201d said Mapusua, who moved to Kubota from London Irish<\/a> in 2011 in his playing days.<\/p>\n \u201cMy family and I are deeply grateful to the club for this opportunity.<\/p>\n \u201cI look forward to working with head coach Frans Ludeke, the coaching staff, club staff, and players.<\/p>\n \u201cI will do my utmost to contribute to the team\u2019s further success.\u201d<\/p>\n Mapusua, 46, spent two seasons with Moana Pasifika, having been appointed as an assistant coach in November 2024.<\/p>\n He joined the then new Super Rugby franchise after losing his job as head coach of Manu Samoa.<\/p>\n Mapusua, who won 41 caps for his country, took charge in August 2020 and won eight of his first 11 Tests.<\/p>\n However, a disappointing Rugby World Cup<\/a> campaign in 2023, in which Samoa failed to make it beyond the pool stages, led to his removal as head coach, with former teammate, Tusi Pisi, eventually replacing him.<\/p>\n Canterbury<\/a> assistant and former Highlanders<\/a> player, James Lentjes, is another new addition to the Kubota coaching roster.<\/p>\n Prior to working with Canterbury, Lentjes coached defence for two-and-a-half years at the Utah Warriors<\/a> in Major League Rugby<\/a> in the United States.<\/p>\n Kubota will be looking to go one better than last year in 2026\/27, having lost the JRLO final 22-13 to Dave Rennie\u2019s Kobe Steelers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Published: 1 hour ago | 27 July 2026 09:54 EDT Updated: 1 hour ago | 27 July 2026…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":827171,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-827170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/827170","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=827170"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/827170\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/827171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=827170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=827170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=827170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}