Ryohei Yamanaka kicked the ball high into the stands filled with elated fans on a clear night in Yokohama on Oct. 13, 2019. It was the final play that sealed the Brave Blossoms’ victory over Scotland and sent the Japanese team to the final round of the Rugby World Cup for the first time in history.

It was also a historic moment that Yamanaka nearly missed.

The full-back for the Kobe’s Kobelco Steelers recently donated around 1,000 rugby balls to kindergartens and nursery schools around the country, an off-field project born from his personal struggles two years ago that threatened to derail his career.

Yamanaka, 31, won national championships both in high school and university. But his journey to the national team and its incredible run at the Rugby World Cup was far from smooth.

Since he started playing rugby in junior high school, Yamanaka had usually played stand-off, a position considered the “brains” of the team.

But in 2018, the Steelers signed Dan Carter, a legend with the New Zealand All Blacks and three-time World Rugby Player of the Year. Yamanaka grew up idolizing Carter.

However, Carter also played the No. 10 position.

Yamanaka mentioned his worries to his best friend, Goro Yoshitani, now 32. They had been teammates on Waseda University’s decorated Rugby Football Club.

“I might lose my place,” Yamanaka said.

Yoshitani’s offhanded reply left a lasting impression.

“It’s not about what position you play,” Yoshitani said. “What matters most is what you do with the position that is given to you, isn’t it?”

THIRD TIME’S A CHARM

It was not the first time Yamanaka feared losing his place in the rugby world.

He was still in university when he debuted on the national team. At the team’s training camp ahead of the 2011 World Cup, Yamanaka tested positive for a banned substance.

He said the substance came from a hair-growth formula he used to help grow a mustache.

The International Rugby Board, today’s World Rugby, suspended Yamanaka for two years from all rugby-related activities.

Before the 2015 World Cup, Yamanaka was on the short list of finalists for the Japanese squad managed by Eddie Jones. But he did not get the nod.

The 2019 World Cup, the first hosted in Asia, was his last realistic chance to play in the international tournament. He put his odds of being selected to wear the red-and-white jersey at about fifty-fifty.

But then he reminded himself of what Yoshitani had told him and changed his mindset.

Yamanaka abandoned his attachment to the stand-off position and focused on the basics of playing any role for the team’s success.

In summer 2018, Yamanaka converted to full-back. And he flourished.

Under a new director, Wayne Smith, a former All Blacks assistant coach, the Steelers won the 2018-2019 season’s Top League title, their first in 15 years. Yamanaka and Carter hoisted the trophy together.

Yamanaka also played for the Sunwolves, the Japanese franchise competing in the Super Rugby tournament.

In the meantime, Yoshitani, a creative director, was also making a name for himself in the 2019 World Cup. He came up with the quadrennial event’s official slogan: “It’s not once every four years. It’s once in a lifetime.”

Posters and promotional items with the catchy copy “once in a lifetime” appeared at World Cup venues across the country.

In late August 2019, about three weeks before the opening of the World Cup, the 31 players on the national team were announced.

Yamanaka’s name was the last one called by skipper Jamie Joseph.

“Because of what Goro (Yoshitani) said, I could stay positive,” said Yamanaka, looking back on his difficulties.

The Brave Blossoms’ electrifying run ended with a defeat to South Africa’s Springboks, the team that went on to beat Eddie Jones-led England and hoisted the Webb Ellis Cup in early November.

Yamanaka played in all five games for Japan.

BUY A SWEATSHIRT, GIVE A RUGBY BALL

In the afterglow of the World Cup’s success, Yamanaka and Yoshitani started focusing on a project to design and make clothes under the brand name “Off the Field.”

The duo conceived the idea two years ago to make large-size clothing for rugby players.

After seeing the popularity of the sport skyrocket in Japan, they decided to expand the project’s purpose to encourage more children to play rugby.

In December, they released an original sweatshirt with the front carrying a line in English: “It’s not where you are, it’s what you do,”

These were the words that revived Yamanaka’s spirit and career.

For every sweatshirt purchased, one rugby ball is donated to a kindergarten or nursery school, they said.

The two did everything from negotiating with manufacturers and keeping track of finances to promoting the project on social media.

Orders came flooding in, and all 900 initially planned sweatshirts sold out immediately.

“I believe what I went through and the things I was worried about struck a chord with many people in different positions,” Yamanaka said. “I hope people have positive feelings when they put on the clothes.”

By the end of April, original rugby balls with the “Off the Field” logo were delivered to 150 kindergartens and nursery schools. Many of them have been shut down under the state of emergency for the new coronavirus pandemic.

The 2020 Top League season that was scheduled from January to May was abruptly called off due to the virus outbreak. That decision dashed the Steelers’ hopes to win back-to-back championships.

Nonetheless, fans, nursery school teachers and children have sent thank-you messages to Yamanaka.

Being sidelined because of the outbreak, Yamanaka has all the more reason to be excited and motivated by the off-field project.

“I gained such a sense of achievement at the World Cup, then I lost a goal as a player after that,” he said. “But now with this project, I’m more determined to support children to follow their dreams. And that drives me to work harder and give my best.”