North Queensland Cowboys centre Viliami Vailea is set to join League One division two side Hanazono Kintetsu Liners, according to Australian outlet The Daily Telegraph. Tongan Vailea, 23, a former rugby union standout at Aorere College in Auckland, New Zealand, made his National Rugby League (NRL) bow with New Zealand Warriors at the age of 18 in 2021. The 6ft 1in, 15st 6lb outside back scored eight tries in 17 appearances for The Warriors before joining Australian team North

Wallabies fly-half Noah Lolesio inspired Toyota Industries Shuttles Aichi to a 34-27 win against Manie Libbok’s title-chasing Kintetsu Liners to seal the division two championship as the beaten Osaka side also missed out on the promotion play-offs. Newly-crowned champions Toyota Shuttles can look forward to a two-leg promotion/relegation play-off against Glenn Delaney’s Mitsubishi Dynaboars later this month. Surprise package Shimizu Koto Blue Sharks, who survived a relegation

Dan Carter’s discipline. Richie Mo’unga’s energy. Quade Cooper’s edge. Kintetsu Liners’ head strength and conditioning coach Takeshi Sakaguchi has trained elite number 10’s and he’s just started working with Springboks Manie Libbok. In this exclusive RugbyJP.com interview, Sakaguchi explains how Japanese rugby is evolving and why consistency, detail and mindset define world-class players. Sakaguchi has established himself as a go-to authority on strength and conditioning i