Brendan Neilson is a New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

-Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese rugby union

Rugby union

Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

 player who plays at centre in Japan for Coca Cola West Red Sparks

Coca Cola West Red Sparks

Coca Cola West Red Sparks RFC is a Japanese company-owned rugby union team based in Fukuoka city, Kyūshū...

. He studied in Japan at Sendai Ikuei High School, then Ryutsu Keizai University

Ryutsu Keizai University

is a Japanese private university in Ryugasaki, Ibaraki. It was founded in 1965.-See also:*Ryutsu Keizai University F.C., affiliated football club.*List of universities in Japan...

. On graduation he first joined NEC Green Rockets

NEC Green Rockets

NEC Green Rockets is a Japanese rugby union team in the Top League. The team's captain is . The previous captain was Takuro Miuchi, who is currently the captain of the Japan national rugby union team. Before the semi-professional Top League was created, the team was just known as "NEC"...

.

In 2006, he obtained Japanese citizenship

Citizenship

Citizenship is the state of being a citizen of a particular social, political, national, or human resource community. Citizenship status, under social contract theory, carries with it both rights and responsibilities...

, though at international level he has yet to represent the senior Japan squad, having played for the Japan A and Under-23 sides.