Mumbai: Hrishikesh Pendse has a Masters in Sports Management from London’s Loughborough University and a Masters in Management Studies from Mumbai’s Jaihind College. But he earns his living in Japan doing something he loves: playing rygby.
Pendse is a rugby pro, representing Mitsubishi Dynaboars in the Japan Rugby Football Union (JRFU) League. Last year was his fourth season there.
Japan currently ranks 11th in the world in men’s rugby. It’s is the highest placed nation in Asia, and is one place below reigning Olympic champions Fiji. At the Rio Olympics last year, where the sport returned as a medal event in the Rugby Sevens (seven-a-side) format, fourth-placed Japan had stunned New Zealand in the group stage.
The JRFU league, which has 15 players per team, attracts leading pros from across the globe. Pendse says, “Japan picks talent from Tonga, Fiji and Samoa, places which breed rugby players. These are athletes with an innate ability [to play thr sport], and are big, strong, explosive and fast. Japanese rugby is known for going to a university tournament in say, Tonga, picking all the best players, admitting them into Japanese universities and giving them citizenship. Playing levels are high in the JRFU league, with the naturalised Tongans and Samoans getting into the clubs.”
Mitsubishi Dynaboars, the team Hrishikesh plays for, is owned by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. “Companies run the sport there, so they are able to attract the world’s best pros, like the All-Blacks from New Zealand, Springboks from South Africa, and Englishmen,” he said, chatting at the Bombay Gymkhana, the city’s rugby hotspot and his first team. Schalk Burger, the South African flanker for the Springboks and winner of the International Rugby Board award, was once Pendse’s teammate in the JRFU club Suntory Sungoliath.
Pros at Mitsubishi include Samoa international Faifili Levave, 6 ft. 4 inches tall, and weighing a 110 kg. The lighter Indian (6 ft. 3 inches and 103 kg) had to shift positions. “I started off in a position called ‘lock’ and moved to a more leadership role as a ‘loose forward’ for India. When I went to New Zealand (before the move to Japan), our ‘LFs’ were Tongans, five inches taller, and heavier than me. I adapted, and can now play at five positions (from among eight forward positions per side).”
Hrishikesh was earlier contracted with Suntory Sungoliath and Kobe Steelers. “I finished four seasons there. Every team has a different sort of glue which binds the group. You have to understand, in each team, what you can provide and what your strengths are. I realised early on that adaptability was my major skill, adapting to situations and different positions. I took some time to realise that and in my first season, it was tough.”
India is ranked 76th in men’s rugby. The sport is ruthless, requiring raw strength, athleticism and courage to make moves like poetry on slow-motion TV. An Indian pro playing in Japan is as rare as an Indian footballer signing for a European club.
“I was in England when the call came to come down for the Commonwealth Games 2010 (New Delhi) and represent India. Talent scouts from CWG countries were present at the matches. A scout from New Zealand asked if I was keen to play. I jumped at the offer.”
The New Zealand experience (North Shore club in Auckland) led to the Japan move (Kobe Steelers in 2011). Getting accepted into an elite structure was a long, hard road for him. “As an Indian, you are underestimated straight away, though the New Zealand system rewards merit. Chances will come for performers, followed by accolades. Understanding Japanese culture was tough at the start. Having grown up in Mumbai, where adaptability is second nature, helped.”
He relates an incident from his initial days in the country, without naming the Japanese club. “I was in the process of negotiating with one of the sides. In the final stage of negotiations, as a sort of celebration, they took me to an authentic Japanese restaurant. The main item on the menu was fish guts. This was the contract negotiation stage, so I would have eaten anything. I ate the fish guts and pretended that I relished it!” Acceptance led to opportunities, and the chance to rub shoulders with world pros.
The 30-year-old says Japanese culture is similar to Indian culture, with a preference for the old and family-centric tradition along with modernity. But it is radically different in other ways.
“Japan does not have religion. There is a smattering of Buddhism, Shinto belief and Meiji belief. Their religion is the Japanese Way, covering everything. Every person will enter the house the same way, will eat the same way, will say the same thing while eating.”
He brings out the contrast. “In India, everyone is different, trying to survive and find ways to get things done. Come what may, the Japanese follow the system. If applied in a certain way, this outlook can get results. Japan’s surprise rugby wins (over South Africa at the 2015 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics victory over New Zealand) proves that if you have a system in place, direct resources towards it and persevere over time, doors to success can open.”
Pendse says Japan is professional in the way children and youth get involved in rugby. “Elite players are treated professionally. They have been at it for several years now and reaped the rewards at the World Cup and Olympic Games. I was in Japan both times to see the disbelief and then the excitement.”
The one-time India captain is giving back to Indian rugby by trying to replicate the model he saw first-hand in New Zealand rugby.
“The structure is such that when an All-Black star finishes his career, he goes back to play for the local side. Even the best come back and play for their old clubs, raise the level, and it percolates upwards. When I finish my Japan season, I try to make it for the All-India tournaments here and try to contribute. I learnt that from the All-Blacks.” New Zealand is world number one in men’s rugby.
India’s first rugby pro in Japan is positive about the work being done back home. “Each time I return, I find the sport growing. Rugby India’s Get Into Rugby project is pulling in more people. Japan were minnows once. If the sport can get big there, other nations can also get there. It will take time, but Japan is the way to follow.”
Rising popularity
* India ranks second in Asia, behind Japan, and fifth worldwide with reference to mass participation in the Get into Rugby programme, according to the World Rugby 2016 statistics
* Japan heads both continental and world lists with 1,89,634 men and women playing the sport. At the world level, Japan is followed by South Africa in the second (1,76,889), Brazil third (1,18, 500) and Colombia fourth (1,11,607)
* India’s participation is 1,03,226, as against 18,490 in 2012, when the programme was introduced
