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.

Honours

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

Current management team

{| class="wikitable"

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! Position

! Name

! Nationality

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| Director of rugby and head coach

| Dave Rennie

|

|-

| Rugby Coach mentor/Team Ambassador

| Wayne Smith

|

|-

| Attack coach

| Mike Blair

|

|-

| Defence coach

| Peter Murchie

|

|-

| Forwards coach

| Dan McFarland

|

|-

| Scrum coach

| Hisateru Hirashima

|

|}

Current squad

The Kobelco Kobe Steelers squad for the 2025-26 season is:

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:left; font-size:90%; width:70%"

|-

! colspan="100%" | Kobelco Kobe Steelers squad

|- valign="top"

|

Props

  • Shigure Takao
  • Hikaru Moriwaki
  • Sho Maeda
  • Kauvaka Kaivelata
  • Hiroshi Yamashita
  • Koo Ji-won
  • Takayuki Watanabe
  • Isileli Nakajima
  • Takashi Ōshita <sup>REP</sup>
  • Riku Tomita <sup>REP</sup>

Hookers

  • Keita Miyauchi
  • Takuya Kitade
  • Kenta Matsuoka
  • Ash Dixon*
  • Sione Sime Mau*

Locks

  • Brodie Retallick (cc)
  • Naohiro Kotaki
  • Gerard Cowley-Tuioti*
  • Neil Hansen
  • Kavaia Tagivetaua
  • Takuma Motohashi
  • Waisake Raratubua

||

Flankers

  • Hayato Fukunishi
  • Takara Imamura
  • Solomone Funaki*
  • Hikaru Hashimoto
  • Go Maeda
  • Sosefo Fakatava*
  • Nico Henrico <sup>REP</sup> <sup>DEP</sup>

No8s

  • Ardie Savea
  • Willie Potgieter
  • Tiennan Costley
  • Sione Polutele* <sup>REP</sup>

Scrum-halves

  • Atsushi Hiwasa
  • Daiki Nakajima
  • Kenta Tokuda
  • Itsuki Kamimura

Fly-halves

  • Bryn Gatland

||

Centres

  • Timothy Lafaele
  • Anton Lienert-Brown
  • Michael Little*
  • Mac Harris*
  • Tali Ioasa
  • Talilotu Fakatulolo*
  • Yoshiki Ōmachi <sup>REP</sup>

Wingers

  • Ataata Moeakiola
  • Junta Hamano
  • Kazuma Ueda
  • Inoke Burua*
  • Soma Sugimoto
  • Ryota Funabiki

Fullbacks

  • Shinsuke Iseki
  • Kanta Matsunaga

Utility Backs

  • Lee Seung-sin (cc)
  • Daisuke Ito
  • Hayata Tsujino
  • Shunsuke Uenobo <sup>REP</sup>

|-

| colspan="100%" style="text-align:center;" |

|}

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

References

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