top of page


Noah Lolesio wins title as Libbok’s Liners’ promotion bid fails in title decider
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

Mark Pickering
May 102 min read


Carter, Mo’unga, Cooper, Libbok: Meet the S&C guru behind rugby’s elite No.10s
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

Mark Pickering
Dec 5, 20257 min read
bottom of page
