Crusaders captain and All Black David Havili will join two-time League One champions Toshiba Brave Lupus, RugbyJP.com understands. Havili, 31, has spent his entire Super Rugby career with the Christchurch-based powerhouse franchise and this year’s semi-finalists announced on Tuesday that he will be taking up a new opportunity in Japan. The 32-cap All Black finished the season strongly in red and black and is proud of the legacy he will leave behind at incoming head coach Scot

Kubota Spears full-back Shaun Stevenson has pledged his allegiance to Samoa for his return to Test rugby, RugbyJP.com can exclusively reveal. The 29-year-old full-back played the full 80 minutes in the League One final loss to Dave Rennie’s Kobe Steelers on 7 June despite picking up a leg injury 30 minutes into the first half. One-cap All Black Stevenson made 133 metres for Frans Ludeke’s back-to-back runners up – more than double second-placed Ardie Savea (65m) - and made fi

Springboks scrum-half Grant Williams has signed for League One champions Kobe Steelers. The Sharks’ speedster, 29, who can also play on the wing, will arrive this Autumn following South Africa’s Nations Championship campaign. The 2023 World Cup winner starts for his country in their season-opening game against ex-All Blacks head coach Scott Robertson’s Barbarians in Gqeberha on Saturday. Williams, a two-time Rugby Championship winner and former European Challenge Cup winner,

Lyon-bound prop Opeti Helu said his dream is still to play for Japan at the Rugby World Cup in Australia next year after his switch from Kubota Spears to the Top 14 side was announced on Monday afternoon. Tonga-born former number eight Helu, 27, won his two caps for the Brave Blossoms in 2024, and revealed that he discussed his opportunity to play in France’s top tier with Japan head coach Eddie Jones before inking a one-year deal with Karim Ghezal’s team. “Eddie called me an

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

World Cup-winning All Black Andy Ellis is set to replace new All Blacks head coach Dave Rennie at League One champions Kobe Steelers, RugbyJP.com can exclusively reveal. The 2011 World Cup winner, who kicked the ball out to seal the All Blacks’ 8-7 win over France as the hosts lifted the Webb Ellis trophy for the second time, spent six years playing for the Japanese side from 2014 to 2020 and was part of their Top League championship win in 2018 under Dave Dillon. © JRLO Elli

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 captain Warner Dearns and Moana Pasifika hooker Mamoru Harada will both return to Japan Rugby League One duty next season, their parent club Toshiba Brave Lupus officially announced on Thursday. Hurricanes lock Dearns, 23, has been a standout performer for Super Rugby’s title contenders while fellow Brave Blossoms international Harada, 27 - who was named as his country’s co-captain last year before withdrawing from the Pacific Nations Cup due to injury - has struggled f

Leinster's all-time record try scorer James Lowe is set to replace Springboks star Cheslin Kolbe at League One outfit Suntory Sungoliath, according to Irish outlet The 42. New Zealand-born Lowe, 33, confirmed his departure from the provincial side after nine years in Ireland in a post on Instagram on Tuesday. The 45-cap international, who failed to agree new deal with the URC finalists, said: "I find it difficult to put into words what Ireland means to me. "It's become so

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

Yokohama Canon Eagles captain Jesse Kriel has vowed to stay in Japan until he leads the Kanagawa club to League One glory. The double World Cup winner is the club’s first foreign-born captain and reflected on a testing campaign in an interview on the club website. Kriel, 32, scored eight tries in 13 appearances this season as Leon MacDonald's talent-rich side finished in a disappointing 10th place finish. Yokohama lost 12 of their 18 games but produced a three-match winning-s

Japan full-back Yoshitaka Yazaki has cut short his overseas excursion in Australia due to sustaining a minor knee injury, RugbyJP can exclusively reveal. Yazaki, who turned 22 in May, made his Brave Blossoms debut against England in 2024 and has won nine caps for his country despite still being a student at Waseda University. The Niigata-born starlet went out to Australia in April and has trained with Super Rugby side the ACT Brumbies on a daily basis. © Vikings Yazaki starte

Springboks superstar Cheslin Kolbe will return to his former club the Stormers this summer after Suntory Sungoliath announced today that he will depart after completing his third season in Japan. The competition’s top points scorer wrestled with the decision of whether to stay in Japan but, having played rugby outside of South Africa since 2017, has opted to make an early return to his homeland. RugbyJP.com understands that Kolbe, who left the Stormers in 2017 to play in the

Suntory Sungoliath has today announced that Springboks star Cheslin Kolbe will be leaving the club at the end of the season. Two-time World Cup winner Kolbe, 32, was prominent on Saturday as he scored 17 points in the club’s 40-35 quarter-final win against Black Rams Tokyo to book a semi-final clash against Dave Rennie and Ardie Savea’s Kobe Steelers on Saturday. The division’s top points scorer is poised to make an early return to his former club the Stormers who have alread