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."

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