Nawaqanitawase to leave Roosters for Japan union return
Mark Nawaqanitawase is leaving rugby league and returning to rugby union. The 26-year-old Sydney Roosters winger will join Saitama Wild Knights in Japan's League One, the country's top union competition, once his Roosters commitments are finished, The Guardian reports.
The goodbye could come as early as Saturday night. The Roosters face Cronulla in a sudden-death semi-final at Allianz Stadium in Sydney, where defeat ends the season. Lose, and he is gone.
He has barely stopped scoring since switching codes. Nawaqanitawase joined the Roosters on a two-year deal from 2025 and touched down on his NRL debut, just six weeks after the Paris Olympics. He has 41 tries — grounding the ball over the line for the game's main score — in 44 league games, with 16 in 20 matches this season.
Last year he led the NRL in tries and was named the competition's winger of the year. That form earned selection for the Kangaroos, Australia's national league side, even after he had declared he would leave the code within 12 months. This season his average run metres have climbed from 138 to 168 per match, a sign of a winger running harder as well as finishing sharper.
His representative rise continued this year in State of Origin, league's annual three-match interstate series between New South Wales and Queensland. He scored twice on his Blues debut at the MCG and helped New South Wales win the 2026 series 2-1, sealed with a 30-12 win over Queensland in the Game 3 decider.
Union supporters will remember what he left behind. Nawaqanitawase won 11 caps for the Wallabies, Australia's national union team, with his last Test in October 2023 at the Rugby World Cup. He then helped Australia to fourth place in men's rugby sevens at the Paris Olympics, the country's best finish in the event.
The move to Japan for the 2026-27 season puts him back in union's orbit ahead of a home Rugby World Cup in Australia, Rugby.com.au notes. At Saitama he will work with backs coach Berrick Barnes, a former Wallaby who also played league for the Brisbane Broncos.
What makes this stand out is the timing. His latest try came from intercepting a Penrith pass in a game Penrith edged, and he still looks every inch a player at the top of league. The Roosters must now beat Cronulla in sudden death to keep his farewell — and their season — alive a little longer, NRL.com reports.
