Isaiah Mapusua's journey from Otago to the Brave Blossoms

New Zealand exports can be found across the rugby world, but among the many pathways to international success is perhaps a road less travelled for foreign talent; Japan’s university rugby scene.

The collegiate game is the backbone of Japanese rugby, drawing big crowds and slingshotting elite young talent to the misty heights of the fast-paced professional rugby leagues.

The standing of university rugby in the Land of the Rising Sun is such that the “best fullback in Japan” according to Eddie Jones, 19-year-old sensation Yoshitaka Yazaki, left the national team after just one game of the Pacific Nations Cup to return to Waseda University for the start of their season.

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Waseda University’s historic rivalry with Meiji University draws a crowd that often exceeds Brave Blossoms attendance numbers with 60,000 fans.

Meanwhile, just a few blocks south of Tokyo Tower sits Keio University, a hub for medical medical research and education. For Kiwi-born lock Isaiah Mapusua though, it was the beginning of his journey to representing Japan.

It wasn’t the 24-year-old’s expected rugby path, but after showing promise at Auckland’s King’s College, he caught some eyes in Tokyo and before he knew it, was living there.

“It happened quite late, in my last year of high school I’d already finished up at King’s and went down, started studying in Dunedin when my best mate gave me a call and said that a uni was interested over here in Japan and then the pathway through to League One would come after that,” Mapusua told RugbyPass ahead of the Pacific Nations Cup quarter final in September.

“I didn’t know many people who had come through the uni system in Japan and obviously played professional rugby in Japan, so it was a bit scary at first but I guess it all paid off in the end.”

The second rower came off the bench that day and helped his side to a commanding 49-27 win over Samoa, extending an impressive scoring run throughout Japan’s campaign where they scored more than 40 points in every Test outside of the final.

For Mapusua, the big turnout for the semi-final was familiar territory. His time playing for Keio University had prepared him for the bright lights of the Pacific Nations Cup.

“It is (big), you get some pretty big crowds and it’s a pretty good level of rugby and the training is probably the hardest part. The training is just unreal.”

Since making the step up to League One, the training hasn’t become any easier. Mapusua plays for Toyota Verblitz where he lines up alongside the likes of recently named World Rugby Men’s 15s Player of the Year Pieter-Steph du Toit in the forwards. Trainings are also run by a couple of familiar faces in the coaching group.

“Toyota’s been huge for my personal growth, having not only good players like Pieter-Steph to look up to, but also great coaching staff, Steve Hansen, Ian Foster coming in this year, they’ve been crucial for me.”