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

  • Japan Koki Yamamoto
  • Japan Shigure Takao
  • Japan Hikaru Moriwaki
  • New Zealand Kauvaka Kaivelata
  • Japan Koo Ji-won
  • Japan Hiroshi Yamashita
  • Japan Takayuki Watanabe
  • Japan Sho Maeda
  • Japan Haruto Takahashi
  • Japan Isileli Nakajima
  • Japan Keita Miyauchi REP

Hookers

  • Japan Takuya Kitade
  • Japan Kenta Matsuoka
  • Scotland George Turner
  • Japan Hiroaki Ushihara
  • Tonga Sione Sime Mau* REP

Locks

  • New Zealand Brodie Retallick (cc)
  • Japan Naohiro Kotaki
  • New Zealand Gerard Cowley-Tuioti
  • Japan Takara Imamura
  • Fiji Waisake Raratubua*
  • Japan Takuma Motohashi REP

Flankers

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

No8s

  • South Africa Willie Potgieter
  • Japan Tiennan Costley

Scrum-halves

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

Fly-halves

  • New Zealand Bryn Gatland
  • Japan Taihei Kusaka
  • Japan Lee Seung-sin (cc)

Centres

  • Japan Timothy Lafaele
  • Australia Quinton Mahina*
  • New Zealand Ngani Laumape
  • New Zealand Michael Little*
  • Japan Shintaro Hayashi
  • New Zealand Tali Ioasa
  • Japan Junta Hamano

Wingers

  • Japan Ataata Moeakiola
  • Tonga Talilotu Fakatulolo*
  • Fiji Inoke Burua*
  • Japan Rakuhei Yamashita
  • Japan Soma Sugimoto
  • Japan Ryota Funabiki
  • Japan Kazuma Ueda REP

Fullbacks

  • Japan Daisuke Ito
  • Japan Ryohei Yamanaka
  • Japan Shinsuke Iseki
  • Japan Kanta Matsunaga

Utility Backs

  • Japan 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

  • Toshiyuki Hayashi
  • Ian Williams
  • Seiji Hirao
  • Yuya Saito
  • Kensuke Iwabuchi
  • Daisuke Ohata
  • Andrew Miller
  • Atsushi Oyagi
  • Kensuke Iwabuchi

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.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.