Kobelco Kobe Steelers

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

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

• 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:^[2]

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

References

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