Last week we were fortunate to receive a visit from 2 Japanese rugby players as part of the schools ongoing relationship with Katsu Takeuchi who is the owner of NZ Rugby links. The two players, Mr. Takehiro Namekaea and Mr. Kazuma Hatakeyama spent an enjoyable Japanese lesson helping the students with their language skills and using their caliography skills to write everyones name in Japanese. Following the classroom lesson, the players came back after school to attend the 1st XV rugby training.
These players are brought over by Katsu to be given an NZ Rugby experience for a few months. Takehiro plays for Toyota currently and has played with Jerome Kaino and been coached by Filo Tiatia. He has been a Japanese High school rep and Japan U20 rep. In Wellington,he is a member of wellington lions academy and plays for Tawa RFC. Kazuma, is a member of the Wellington Lions Academy and is also playing for OBU RFC.