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

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

Japan head coach Eddie Jones has criticised Ireland’s ‘power play’ in moving their Nations Championship fixture from Japan to a neutral venue in Newcastle, Australia. The Brave Blossoms launch their campaign in the new 12-team Tier 1 competition against Italy at Tokyo’s Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium on Saturday 4 July. Their round two 'home' tie against Ireland will take place in Australia rather than Japan, it was announced at the end of April. “You know why we’re playing Ire

A large group of overseas-born players who have Japanese citizenship are exploring legal avenues over controversial new player classification rules which come into effect in League One next season. RugbyJP.com understands that around 30 League One players, a host of whom have played for Japan after qualifying on residency grounds, have put their name to a complaint which will be lodged to the Japan Fair Trade Commission. Additionally, the group has submitted a petition for a

Mie Honda Heat full-back Lomano Lemeki was not surprised to see centre cum fly-half Dawid Kellerman kick an 82nd minute penalty from long range to complete an impressive double over champions Toshiba Brave Lupus. Evergreen Lemeki, 37, who has represented his adopted country at the 2019 and 2023 World Cup tournaments as well as the Rio 2016 Olympics, saw Sunday’s trip to Tokyo as a make-or-break game for Kieran Crowley’s visitors. “Toshiba are the back-to-back champions and ou

Shizuoka Blue Revs wing Valynce Te Whare has been ruled out for 10 months after being diagnosed with a ruptured ACL. The 25-year-old, who joined the club in 2024 after being released by NRL side the Dolphins, has starred on his return to the 15-man game with 14 tries in 28 appearances in League One. Te Whare scored in the 26-21 loss against Honda Heat on February 22 on the half-hour mark before injury struck with just six minutes left in the game. Shizuoka’s Waikato native -

Two of Japan Rugby League One’s heavy-hitters collide in round two in a star-studded showdown between Steve Hansen’s Toyota Verblitz and ‘Brighton Miracle’ number 10-turned head coach Kosei Ono’s Suntory Sungoliath at the 49,970-capacity Ajinomoto Stadium on Saturday. The game will air live in the UK on Premier Sports from 5.25am (KO 5.30am) with English commentary. RugbyJP.com has four reasons why the anticipated clash, which has a habit of producing a nail-biting and high