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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Honours

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

Personnel

Current management team

Position	Name	Nationality
Director of rugby and head coach	Dave Rennie	Template:Flag
Attack coach	Mike Blair	Template:Flag
Defence coach	Peter Murchie	Template:Flag
Forwards coach	Dan McFarland	Template:Flag
Scrum coach	Petrus du Plessis	Template:Flag

Current squad

The Kobelco Kobe Steelers squad for the 2025-26 season is:<ref name="Kobe Steelers: Players">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Kobelco Kobe Steelers squad
Props Template:Flagicon Shigure Takao Template:Flagicon Hikaru Moriwaki Template:Flagicon Sho Maeda Template:Flagicon Kauvaka Kaivelata Template:Flagicon Koo Ji-won Template:Flagicon Hiroshi Yamashita Template:Flagicon Takayuki Watanabe Template:Flagicon Keita Miyauchi Template:Flagicon Isileli Nakajima Hookers Template:Flagicon Takuya Kitade Template:Flagicon Kenta Matsuoka Template:Flagicon Ash Dixon* Template:Flagicon Sione Sime Mau* Locks Template:Flagicon Brodie Retallick (cc) Template:Flagicon Naohiro Kotaki Template:Flagicon Gerard Cowley-Tuioti* Template:Flagicon Neil Hansen Template:Flagicon Takara Imamura Template:Flagicon Takuma Motohashi Template:Flagicon Waisake Raratubua	Flankers Template:Flagicon Hayato Fukunishi Template:Flagicon Solomone Funaki* Template:Flagicon Hikaru Hashimoto Template:Flagicon Go Maeda Template:Flagicon Ardie Savea Template:Flagicon Sosefo Fakatava* No8s Template:Flagicon Willie Potgieter Template:Flagicon Tiennan Costley Scrum-halves Template:Flagicon Atsushi Hiwasa Template:Flagicon Daiki Nakajima Template:Flagicon Kenta Tokuda Template:Flagicon Itsuki Kamimura Fly-halves Template:Flagicon Bryn Gatland Template:Flagicon Lee Seung-sin (cc)	Centres Template:Flagicon Timothy Lafaele Template:Flagicon Anton Lienert-Brown Template:Flagicon Michael Little* Template:Flagicon Mac Harris* Template:Flagicon Tali Ioasa Template:Flagicon Junta Hamano Wingers Template:Flagicon Ataata Moeakiola Template:Flagicon Talilotu Fakatulolo* Template:Flagicon Inoke Burua* Template:Flagicon Kazuma Ueda Template:Flagicon Soma Sugimoto Template:Flagicon Ryota Funabiki Fullbacks Template:Flagicon Daisuke Ito Template:Flagicon Shinsuke Iseki Template:Flagicon Kanta Matsunaga Utility Backs Template:Flagicon Hayata Tsujino
Template:Smalldiv

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

• Ardie Savea
• 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

External links

• Steelers upset Green Rockets in Microsoft Cup - Japan Times, January 24, 2005
• https://www.kobesteelers.com/ Kobelco Steelers] official site
• Top League official site