Kobelco Kobe Steelers
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 RugbyWayne Smith
Coach(es)Dave Rennie
Captain(s)Brodie Retallick, Rakuhei Yamashita
League(s)Japan Rugby League One
2022–20239th
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 Wayne Smith  New Zealand
Head coach Dave Rennie  New Zealand
Assistant coach Mike Blair  Scotland

Current squad

The Kobelco Kobe Steelers squad for the 2023-24 season is:[2]

Kobelco Kobe Steelers squad

Props

Hookers

  • Japan Takuya Kitade
  • Japan Kenta Matsuoka
  • Japan Rinpei Sasaki
  • Japan Hiroaki Ushihara
  • Japan Ikuma Yamada

Locks

Loose forwards

Scrum-halves

  • Japan Atsushi Hiwasa
  • Japan Daiki Nakajima
  • Japan Kentaro Obata
  • Japan Maki Shimizu
  • Japan Kenta Tokuda

Fly-halves

Centres

Wingers

Fullbacks

  • (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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