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.

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	Wayne Smith
Coach(es)	Dave Rennie
Captain(s)	Brodie Retallick, Rakuhei Yamashita
League(s)	Japan Rugby League One
2022–2023	9th
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	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:

Kobelco Kobe Steelers squad
Props Suguru Igarashi Koki Yamamoto Shigure Takao Isileli Nakajima Koo Ji-won Hiroshi Yamashita Takayuki Watanabe Sho Maeda Haruto Takahashi Hikaru Moriwaki REP Hookers Rinpei Sakaki Takuya Kitade Kenta Matsuoka Hiroaki Ushihara Ikuma Yamada Locks Brodie Retallick (cc) Takara Imamura Naohiro Kotaki Waisake Raratubua* Gerard Cowley-Tuioti Jang Seok-hwan DEP	Flankers Hayato Fukunishi Amanaki Saumaki Hikaru Hashimoto Ryo Inoue Go Maeda No8s Willie Potgieter Ardie Savea Tiennan Costley Scrum-halves Atsushi Hiwasa Daiki Nakajima Kentaro Obata Maki Shimizu Kenta Tokuda Fly-halves Bryn Gatland Lee Seung-sin Taihei Kusaka	Centres Quinton Mahina* Timothy Lafaele Ngani Laumape Michael Little Shintaro Hayashi Gentaro Ikenaga Junta Hamano Tali Ioasa DEP Talilotu Fakatulolo REP DEP Wingers Ataata Moeakiola Kosuke Naka Rakuhei Yamashita (cc) Soma Sugimoto Sione Tapu'osi DEP Ryota Funabiki REP Fullbacks Ryohei Yamanaka Shinsuke Iseki Kanta Matsunaga Daisuke Ito REP Utility Backs
(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

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