Japan's unlikely leader who turned down the All Blacks

Warner Dearns didn't want to go to Japan. Now, he doesn't want to leave. A decade ago, Dearns' father Grant got a job as a strength and conditioning coach with top-flight Japanese side NEC Green Rockets, taking the family from New Zealand's North Island to a satellite city outside Tokyo. For Dearns, like most 14-year-olds, swapping class-mates, countries, continents and cultures didn't appeal. "I said I didn't want to go," says the second row, who will co-captain Japan against England at Allianz Stadium on Saturday. "My sister and I wanted to stay with our grandma and grandad [in New Zealand]." But, reluctantly, they made the trip, with Dearns' mother Tanya, a former New Zealand netballer, giving up her own coaching job to help the family settle in Japan. "The first year or two took a bit to adapt to, it is a very different culture from New Zealand, and the language barrier didn't help much either," remembers Dearns. "At high school there was no-one else who spoke English. I was the kid who stood out, the only one with blond curly hair, so it was lots of fun." There were other reasons that Dearns stood out. Even as a teenager, he stood 6ft 8in tall and weighed more than 19 stone (120.6kg). In New Zealand, Deans had been more interested in basketball than rugby. But at Kashiwa Senior High School – one of Japan's strongest rugby-playing schools – they moulded him into a monster prospect. To supplement his size and galloping, long-legged sprint, Dearns' school coaches introduced gymnastics into his training schedule, having him hurdle team-mates and perform flips, to improve his agility around the pitch. Away from school, he would hit the gym at his dad's employers, working out alongside the likes of former England full-back Alex Goode. Given that super-charged rugby education, Dearns progressed fast. Having qualified on residency grounds, he made his Japan debut In November 2021 at just 19. By France 2023, he was a regular, featuring in all four of the team's matches at the Rugby World Cup. This past season, he has been a revelation. He has spent the year back in New Zealand at the Hurricanes on a season's sabbatical, where his bottomless energy, soft hands and line-out prowess helped the Wellington side to their first Super Rugby title in a decade. Playing alongside All Blacks Jordie Barrett, Ruben Love, Cam Roigard and Peter Lakai, broadened Dearns' horizons once more. "It was awesome, I got to sit back and see how the boys prepare," Dearns added. "The All Blacks guys especially lead the way and are part of the leadership group, I got to enjoy playing footy and watch how they do things." The possibility of Dearns having a more permanent view was raised. Various figures in New Zealand rugby's scene wondered whether Dearns would be amenable to returning to his homeland, waiting out a three-year Test stand-down requirement and then transferring his allegiance to the All Blacks. Dearns, now 24, declined. "It was nothing official, it was all sort of hearsay," he says of the possibility of switching sides. "I had a couple of people coming up to me asking me if I would ever think about it. It was never an option for me." Dearns is indebted to Japan for the country's role in his development. But Japan is also now home. Dearns, who now speaks the language fluently and whose son was born in the country, was moved to tears during his adopted nation's anthem at the last World Cup. His passion shows in the way he plays too. On his last visit to Twickenham, back in 2022, Dearns set up a try with a break and offload to scrum-half Naoto Saito. In the teams' most recent meeting, in Tokyo in 2024, he assisted another two, one via a brilliant one-handed grab-and-go in midfield.