He may have played for the Kangaroos and tackled State of Origin with New South Wales, but Craig Wing describes Japan’s rugby Test against New Zealand as a “once in a lifetime opportunity”.
Wing, 33, who played in the NRL with South Sydney and the Sydney Roosters between 1998 and 2009 moved to Japan three years ago to swap codes and play rugby.
He qualified to play for Japan on the three-year residency rule late last year and scored a try in the Brave Blossoms’ 23-8 win over Wales in June.
“When I left Australia I thought any hope of representative football or anything like that was well and truly done,” he said after being named at inside centre for Saturday’s Test at Prince Chichibu Memorial Stadium.
“But when Eddie (Jones) presented me with a chance at the end of last year to play for Japan I was so excited and pretty much said yes straight away.
“But I had no idea that one day I would come up against the best team in the world here in Japan. For me it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity.”
In a 19-Test Kangaroos career Wing said he could remember losing just once to the New Zealand rugby league side.
“But they are always big and they are always physical. The haka at the start of the game is a really good privilege to be in front of,” he added.
Wing can expect more of the same physicality from the All Blacks, even though they are without many of their regular first-choice starters, with the exception of captain Richie McCaw and Dan Carter.
But Wing is adamant he and his Japanese teammates will meet the challenge head on.
“They are the best team in the world for a reason. But our focus is not just to be a training run for them,” said the midfielder.
“It’s not just to stand back and watch them play rugby. We want to play some rugby and have some fun too.”
Several of the Japan team will be familiar to the New Zealanders. Hooker Shota Horie has played for Otago and the Melbourne Rebels while Highlanders halfback Fumiaki Tanaka also starts.
The New Zealand-born pair Hendrik Tui and Michael Broadhurst have been named in the loose forwards and another Kiwi, Luke Thompson, is on the bench along with Kosei Ono who is a former pupil of Christchurch Boys’ High.
Japan: Ayumu Goromaru, Toshiaki Hirose (captain), Male Sau, Craig Wing, Kenki Fukuoka, Harumichi Tatekawa, Fumiaki Tanaka, Ryu Koliniasi Holani, Michael Broadhurst, Hendrik Tui, Hitoshi Ono, Shoji Ito, Kensuke Hatakeyama, Shota Horie, Masataka Mikami. Reserves: Yusuke Aoki, Yusuke Nagae, Hiroshi Yamashita, Luke Thompson, Takashi Kikutani, Kosei Ono, Yu Tamura, Yoshikazu Fujita.