Kobelco Kobe Steelers

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]

Kobelco Kobe Steelers
コベルコ神戸スティーラーズ

Full name	Kobelco Kobe Steelers
Union	Japan Rugby Football Union
Founded	1928
Location	Kobe, Hyogo
Ground(s)	Noevir Stadium Kobe, Kobe Universiade Memorial Stadium (Capacity: 30,132, 36,000)
Director of Rugby	Dave Rennie
Coach(es)	Dave Rennie
Captain(s)	Brodie Retallick, Lee Seung-sin
League(s)	Japan Rugby League One
2023–2024	5th
1st kit 2nd kit
Official website
www.kobesteelers.com

Honours

• Top League:
  • Champions: 2003–04, 2018-19

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 Koki Yamamoto Shigure Takao Hikaru Moriwaki Kauvaka Kaivelata Koo Ji-won Hiroshi Yamashita Takayuki Watanabe Sho Maeda Haruto Takahashi Isileli Nakajima Keita Miyauchi REP Hookers Takuya Kitade Kenta Matsuoka George Turner Hiroaki Ushihara Sione Sime Mau* REP Locks Brodie Retallick (cc) Naohiro Kotaki Gerard Cowley-Tuioti Takara Imamura Waisake Raratubua* Takuma Motohashi REP	Flankers Hayato Fukunishi Amanaki Saumaki Sosefo Fakatava* Hikaru Hashimoto Go Maeda Solomone Funaki* REP No8s Willie Potgieter Tiennan Costley Scrum-halves Atsushi Hiwasa Daiki Nakajima Kentaro Obata Kenta Tokuda Itsuki Kamimura REP Fly-halves Bryn Gatland Taihei Kusaka Lee Seung-sin (cc)	Centres Timothy Lafaele Quinton Mahina* Ngani Laumape Michael Little* Shintaro Hayashi Tali Ioasa Junta Hamano Wingers Ataata Moeakiola Talilotu Fakatulolo* Inoke Burua* Rakuhei Yamashita Soma Sugimoto Ryota Funabiki Kazuma Ueda REP Fullbacks Daisuke Ito Ryohei Yamanaka Shinsuke Iseki Kanta Matsunaga 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

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

Foreign players

• Brodie Retallick
• Andy Ellis
• Dan Carter
• Adam Ashley-Cooper
• Aaron Cruden
• Andries Bekker
• Jacque Fourie
• Ron Cribb
• Dave Bickle
• Mark Egan
• Simon Wensley
• Pierre Hola
• Peter Grant
• Thinus Delport
• Ben Smith
• Lukhanyo Am
• Hayden Parker