Japan prop Opeti Helu has signed for Top 14 side Lyon, his club Kubota Spears has announced today. Tonga-born Helu, 27, has spent seven years with the Funabashi side having joined in 2019 following a successful two-month trial. The hulking 6ft 3in, 127kg tight-head, who famously sidestepped All Blacks fly-half Damian McKenzie to score on his Brave Blossoms debut in 2024, has attracted a host of suitors this season and has opted to ink a deal with Karim Ghezal’s French side wh

Urayasu D-Rocks assistant coach Isaac Ross’ teenage son Stanley Ross has signed for French giants Stade Francais. Ex-All Black Ross, 41, who spent nine seasons as a player with Urayasu (then NTT Shining Arcs), is currently part of Graham Rowntree’s coaching team at the division one side. The former Crusaders second row hails from a family blessed with an extraordinary rugby pedigree with his father Jock an All Black tourist in 1981 while his mother Christine Ross played for t

Former Saitama Wild Knights wing Marika Koroibete has joined Indian sevens side Chennai Bulls on a lucrative short-term deal. Koroibete, 33, who scored three tries this season for the third-place play-off winners, will play for his new side in the second instalment of the HSBC-backed Rugby Premier League from 16 to 28 June in Hyderabad, India. © JRLO The ex-Wallabies winger last represented Australia in 2024 and, after five seasons in Kumagaya, is one of eight players who hav

Japan head coach Eddie Jones faced the media for the first time since being handed a six-week suspension by the Japan Rugby Football Union (JRFU) as he discussed his 35-man squad selection on Wednesday afternoon. The former Wallabies head coach's suspension was lifted on 5 June but he still will miss the Brave Blossoms' opening Nations Championship game against Italy (4 July) following comments he made to an official during Japan u23’s trip to his homeland in April. Jones ope

New All Blacks head coach Dave Rennie and former World Player of The Year Ardie Savea signed off from Japanese rugby by leading Kobe Steelers to the League One title as they beat Kubota Spears 22-13 on Sunday. All Black-laden Kobe, who were led by talismanic captain and player of the match Brodie Retallick, proved to be too strong for Frans Ludeke’s Kubota side who were missing World Player of The Year Malcolm Marx who was ruled out with a biceps injury. © JRLO Kubota have n

Kobe Steelers loose-forward Ardie Savea is eyeing League One glory against Kubota Spears on Sunday but admits his former club Moana Pasifika are still in his thoughts as uncertainty continues to surround the Super Rugby franchise's future. The 2023 World Rugby Player of the Year starts at openside flanker for Dave Rennie's side who are gracing the League One final for the first time. Table-topping Kobe, who are led by free-scoring captain Brodie Retallick, will face Bernard F

South African lock Lood de Jager returned from a seven-month injury lay-off to help Saitama Wild Knights defeat Sam Cane’s Suntory Sungoliath 26-19 in League One's third-place play-off. The 33-year-old made his first appearance of the season having recovered from hip surgery following South Africa’s end-of-year tour in 2025. Fit-again de Jager played 56 minutes in the penultimate club game of the Japanese season to hand the Springboks a major boost heading into a congested su

Tonga legend Siale Piutau is already looking ahead to his 22nd season in the pro game after his campaign for division two’s surprise package Shimizu Koto Blue Sharks was derailed by injuries. Ex-Bristol Bears star Piutau, 40, whose younger brother Charles has departed division one side Shizuoka Blue Revs after three years in Japan, played a key off field role for the club as a supervisor to the team’s talented group of foreign players. The Auckland native is known for his lea

Japan-qualified Top 14 wing Toshi Butlin is eying a move to a Japan Rugby League One club to kickstart his Test rugby career, according to French newspaper La République des Pyrénées. The 21-year-old Brisbane native has spent three seasons in French club Pau’s academy and scored three tries in his three senior appearances this season including a brace in the Champions Cup against the Scarlets. Ex-sprinter Butlin, who was in the Queensland Reds academy before leaving for Europ

Kubota Spears overpowered defending champions Toshiba Brave Lupus 26-3 in the League One quarter-finals as Richie Mo’unga’s bid for an unprecedented 'three-peat' was ended by Bernard Foley and Malcolm Marx’s 2023 winners. In an absorbing encounter at Tokyo’s Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium, Frans Ludeke’s Kubota outmuscled their opponents up front and starved them off possession for long periods of the game to go some way to avenging last year’s loss in the final. Ex-Wallabies f

Toshiba Brave Lupus fly-half Richie Mo’unga is confident that the back-to-back champions can keep their ‘three-peat’ dream alive when they face Kubota Spears in Sunday’s quarter-final. Two-time MVP Mo’unga, 31, who will return to New Zealand when his three-year deal finishes in June, spoke to the media at the club’s headquarters in Fuchu as Todd Blackadder’s side prepare to face Frans Ludeke’s Kubota in a rematch of last year’s final. Champions Toshiba had a wildly inconsiste

Suntory Sungoliath rescued their quarter-final with a match-winning 84th minute try to edge past the spirited Black Rams Tokyo who's sensational second half comeback was undone in the last play of the game. © JRLO In a frenetic game that had everything, play-off regulars Suntory controlled proceedings from the outset and powered their way to a 17-0 lead after just 15 minutes as first-time post-season contenders the Rams looked overawed by the occasion. TJ Perenara gave them a

League One’s division one play-offs kick off on Saturday with TJ Perenara’s Black Rams Tokyo facing Sam Cane’s Suntory Sungoliath as World Cup winners and ex-All Blacks teammates clash at Tokyo’s Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium. The history-making Rams are making their first appearance in the top-flight post-season after former All Blacks centre Tabai Matson, who played for then-Top League side Yamaha Jubilo (now Shizuoka Blue Revs) from 2001 to 2006, impressively steered the To

Wallabies legend Will Genia will return to his native Papua New Guinea when he leaves Japanese second division side Kintetsu Liners in June. The former Queensland Reds scrum-half, 38, hung up his boots a year ago after playing six seasons alongside his former Australia half-back partner Quade Cooper for the Osaka-based Liners. Genia hails from the coastal village and rugby hotbed of Lalaura which is located in the Aroma Rural LLG of the Abau District, Central Province and is

Japan Rugby Football Union has named forwards coach Neal Hatley as their Deputy Head Coach on a temporary basis after suspending Eddie Jones for six weeks. The JRFU announced a 33-man Japan XV squad today for games against a Hong Kong China representative side in Oita this month and the Māori All Blacks in Nagoya on 27 June Former Bath forwards coach Hatley, who joined the Brave Blossoms coaching ticket in 2024, leads the Japan XV development team and was listed as Deputy Hea

Ex-All Blacks wing Charles Piutau and former URC Player of The Year Sanele Nohamba have both left division one Japanese side Shizuoka Blue Revs. Yuichiro Fujii’s side, who are captained by Springboks star Kwagga Smith, has endured a disappointing campaign as they narrowly missed out on a play-offs spot with a seventh-placed finish. The Yamaha-backed Blue Revs will make wholesale changes to their squad this summer after announcing the departure of 14 players today including tw

World Cup-winning former All Blacks head coach Sir Graham Henry believes that New Zealand Rugby (NZR) should take a flexible approach regarding the eligibility of Japan-based Richie Mo’unga, Shannon Frizell and Brodie Retallick this summer. Henry, 79, was this week appointed as a NZR selector as new head coach Dave Rennie announced the legendary coach’s return to the All Blacks fold during his press conference in Auckland on Tuesday. The former Wales boss has had several shor

Former Wallabies scrum-half and World Cup runner-up Nick Phipps has left division two side NEC Green Rockets after four years in Japan. Ex-NEC captain Phipps, 37, made three appearances this year in an injury-hit season as Greg Cooper’s Chiba-based side, whose ownership and management will transfer from NEC to JR East Japan Railway Company in July, finished in fourth-place. The Australian stalwart made 36 appearances for the former division one side and is among an 11-strong

Blacks Rams Tokyo’s World Cup-winning captain TJ Perenara lauded Suntory Sungoliath full-back Cheslin Kolbe as one of the best players in the world ahead of their League One quarter-final next week. Perenara, who was speaking at the Japan Rugby League One (JRLO) Play-Offs Media Conference in Akihabara, Tokyo, on Thursday afternoon, identified the Springboks superstar - who finished the regular season as the top points scorer - as the greatest threat posed by their Tokyo rival

Suntory Sungoliath star Cheslin Kolbe believes he’s still developing as a player after helping the Fuchu side past rivals Black Rams Tokyo in a preview of the upcoming quarter-final between the two sides in two weeks' time. The 32-year-old double World Cup winner contributed 17 points in his team's 39-22 win in the final round of the regular season on Sunday to finish with a personal best haul of 185 points. South Africa’s pocket rocket’s try and 12 points from the tee saw hi