Dual-code wing Mark Nawaqanitawase to join Saitama Wild Knights

Australia’s dual-code wing Mark Nawaqanitawase’s new club has been revealed as Saitama Wild Knights after the League One leaders announced the deal on Monday afternoon.

The 25-year-old Sydney Roosters wing will spend a second season in the NRL this year before moving to Japan in December following the Wallabies’ end-of-year tour.

According to the Sydney Herald, Nawaqanitawase has inked a two-year contract with Atsushi Kanazawa’s inaugural League One champions who are currently top of the table and are the only undefeated team after seven rounds.

The ex-Waratahs livewire, who is returning to union with next year’s home World Cup in mind, turned down offers from France to put pen to paper on a contract worth more than $1 million a season.

Nawaqanitawase said: “It’s a huge honour to join the Saitama Panasonic Wild Knights from the 2026-27 season.

“They are a very strong team that has experienced a lot of success, and it is a club which carries a rich history. I am looking forward to becoming part of the Wild Knights and I am looking forward to what we can build together in the future.” 

The New South Wales native took the NRL by storm last season with 24 tries in 23 games in his first season with the Roosters.

He last played for the Wallabies at the 2023 World Cup and will become eligible for Italy and Fiji in October.

Saitama’s current trio of Category C players (capped by a country other than Japan) features injured South African lock Lood de Jager, his countryman Damian de Allende and ex-NRL star and Nawaqanitawase’s former Wallabies teammate Marika Koroibete.

Double World Cup winner de Allende, 34, has long been linked with a move back to South Africa this summer with the Stormers keen to lure their former centre home.

The chances of that happening have now increased with Nawaqanitawase’s arrival later this year while the future of Koroibete, who turns 34 in July, remains unclear.

Japanese sides can only name three Category C players in a matchday squad.  

Stay tuned to RugbyJP for the latest details on Nawaqanitawase's move to Japan