Kobelco Kobe Steelers

Kobelco Kobe Steelers
コベルコ神戸スティーラーズ
Full nameKobelco Kobe Steelers
UnionJapan Rugby Football Union
Founded1928
LocationKobe, Hyogo
Ground(s)Noevir Stadium Kobe, Kobe Universiade Memorial Stadium (Capacity: 30,132, 36,000)
Director of RugbyDave Rennie
Coach(es)Dave Rennie
Captain(s)Brodie Retallick, Lee Seung-sin
League(s)Japan Rugby League One
2023–20245th
1st kit
2nd kit
Official website
www.kobesteelers.com

The Kobelco Kobe Steelers are a Japanese rugby union team owned by Kobe Steel, and based in Kobe. They were the first ever Top League champions when the League started in the 2003-2004 season. The team rebranded as Kobelco Kobe Steelers ahead of the rebranding of the Top League to the Japan Rugby League One in 2022.[1]

Honours

Personnel

Current management team

Position Name Nationality
Director of rugby and head coach Dave Rennie New Zealand
Attack coach Mike Blair Scotland
Defence coach Peter Murchie Scotland
Forwards coach Dan McFarland England
Scrum coach Petrus du Plessis South Africa

Current squad

The Kobelco Kobe Steelers squad for the 2024-25 season is:[2]

Kobelco Kobe Steelers squad

Props

Hookers

Locks

Flankers

  • Hayato Fukunishi
  • Amanaki Saumaki
  • Sosefo Fakatava*
  • Hikaru Hashimoto
  • Go Maeda
  • Solomone Funaki* REP

No8s

Scrum-halves

  • Atsushi Hiwasa
  • Daiki Nakajima
  • Kentaro Obata
  • Kenta Tokuda
  • Itsuki Kamimura REP

Fly-halves

Centres

Wingers

Fullbacks

Utility Backs

  • Hayata Tsujino REP
  • (cc) denotes team co-captains.
  • Bold denotes internationally capped.

Past players

  • Yuta Imamura (2007-19, 124 games) Centre, Japanese international (2006-13, 39 caps)
  • Itaru Taniguchi (2008-21, 148 games) Loose forward, Japanese international (2010-11, 10 caps)
  • Shoji Ito (2009-18, 104 games) Lock, Japanese international (2012-15, 36 caps)

Japanese players

Foreign players

References

  1. ^ "La nouvelle ligue japonaise s'appelle la Japan Rugby League One". Asie Rugby (in French). 16 July 2021. Retrieved 16 July 2021.
  2. ^ "Kobe Steelers: Players" (in Japanese). Kobelco Kobe Steelers. 2024. Retrieved 12 December 2023.
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