Ryan Tamarua Nicholas (born 23 May 1979 in Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia) is an Australian-born Japanese

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

player who plays for Suntory Sungoliath of the

Top League Japan Rugby League One (formerly the Top League) is a rugby union competition in Japan. It is the highest level of professional rugby competition in the country. The Japan Rugby Football Union created the competition in 2003, by absorbing the ...

in Japan. In July 2011, he received Japanese citizenship. Although he is of

Cook Island Maori Cook or The Cook may refer to: Food preparation * Cooking, the preparation of food * Cook (domestic worker), a household staff member who prepares food * Cook (professional), an individual who prepares food for consumption in the food industry * ...

heritage, he has played internationally for Japan since 2008.

Playing career

New Zealand

Born in Australia, Nicholas moved to

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

in his youth and attended

Tauranga Boys' College , motto_translation = I take up the work and I carry it through , coordinates = , type = State Secondary school , established = 1958 , MOE = 121 , principal = Andrew Turner , decile = 6N , years = 9 – 13 , upp ...

. He moved south to attend the

University of Otago , image_name = University of Otago Registry Building2.jpg , image_size = , caption = University clock tower , motto = la, Sapere aude , mottoeng = Dare to be wise , established = 1869; 152 years ago , type = Public research collegiate ...

and made his provincial rugby debut for Otago as a teenager in 1998. By 2001, Nicholas was a key player in the Otago side and earned a contract with the Highlanders for the

2002 Super 12 season The 2002 Super 12 season was the seventh season of the Super 12, contested by teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The season ran from February to May 2002, with each team playing all the others once. At the end of the regular seas ...

. He would go on to have an outstanding debut season, starting all 12 contests and leading the side with 7 tries (one more than

All Black The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987, ...

great Jeff Wilson). His exploits helped the Highlanders to an 8-3 record and semi-finals berth. Nicholas would be unable to play in the Highlanders squad for the 2005 Super 12 season as he signed with suntory sungoliath based in Tokyo Japan

Japan

In 2005, Nicholas joined Japanese

club Suntory Sungoliath. While his goal-kicking opportunities were limited in New Zealand, as he was behind

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987, ...

Nick Evans and Tony Brown in the pecking order for Otago and the Highlanders, he was given an opportunity in Japan to become his team's main kicking option, and by the 2006-07 season was the top points scorer in the Top League. Nicholas signed with the

Queensland Reds The Queensland Reds is the rugby union team for the Australian state of Queensland that competes in the Southern Hemisphere's Super Rugby competition. Prior to 1996, they were a representative team selected from the rugby union club competitions ...

for the

2007 Super 14 season The 2007 Super 14 season started in February 2007 with preseason matches held from mid-January. It finished on 19 May with the final at ABSA Stadium in Durban, in the first final between two South African teams in the history of Super Rugby. Th ...

, but the move fell through on the eve of the season and he chose to remain in Japan. In the 2010-11 season, Nicholas scored 126 points in helping Suntory Sungoliath to their first All-Japan Championship since 2001.

International play

As Nicholas had never represented New Zealand or Australia internationally, he qualified to play for Japan and was selected in February 2008 as a member of th
Japan national squad of 52 players
Nicholas has developed into a key player and one of the regular goal kickers (along with former Otago and Highlander teammate

James Arlidge ; born 11 August 1979) is a Japanese international rugby union player. He plays primarily at fly-half. Club career Unusually, he made his Super Rugby debut for the Auckland Blues, prior to making his first start in provincial rugby, making th ...

) for the Japanese squad, and earned his 25th cap against the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia ( The Middle East). It is located at t ...

on 13 May 2011. Nicholas retired from international rugby at the end of the 2012 season.

External links

Oceania Rugby Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nicholas, Ryan 1979 births Japanese rugby union players Australian people of Cook Island descent Australian sportspeople of Polynesian descent Australian people of Māori descent New Zealand sportspeople of Cook Island descent Japan international rugby union players Japanese people of Cook Island descent Japanese people of Māori descent Māori All Blacks players Highlanders (rugby union) players Otago rugby union players Tokyo Sungoliath players Mitsubishi Sagamihara DynaBoars players Cook Island Māori people Australian emigrants to New Zealand Australian emigrants to Japan Living people Expatriate rugby union players in Japan Rugby union centres Rugby union players from New South Wales