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

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

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-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

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

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

Kenyan rugby starlet Andy Cole Omolo is set to move to Japan to join Tenri University on an educational scholarship. KCB Rugby Club’s highly-rated young lock, 21, has established himself as a key player for the Nairobi-based club, scooping multiple Player of The Match Awards this season and he has chipped in with eight tries in nine games. The former Chavakali High School standout, who will study International Relations in Nara Prefecture, captained Kenya’s u20 side at the Wo

Toshiba Brave Lupus fly-half Richie Mo’unga believes that the misfiring back-to-back champions can turn their fortunes around and hold on to a top six play-off spot as they cling on to hopes of a League One ‘three-peat’. Two-time MVP Mo’unga, 31, saw his side slip to a sixth consecutive defeat when Honda Heat’s Japan-qualified utility-back Dawid Kellerman kicked an 82nd minute penalty for a dramatic 24-22 win at Tokyo’s Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium on Sunday. “It's funny to s

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

Black Rams Tokyo’s Japan-qualified full-back Isaac Lucas has spoken of his desire to play Test rugby as his club closes in on achieving their best League One finish. The 27-year-old Brisbane native has been an ever-present for Tabai Matson’s high-flying side who are currently fifth in the table and are on the verge of clinching a top six play-off berth spot for the first time. Lucas played the full 80 minutes in their 37-33 triumph over play-off rivals Shizuoka Blue Revs in K

Division two side NEC Green Rockets has announced that their ex-Japan international Amanaki Lotoahea was arrested on suspicion of assault on Sunday March 8. Tonga-born centre Lotoahea, 35, who has eight caps for Japan after qualifying on residency grounds, has scored two tries in four appearances this season. The former Black Rams Tokyo back was arrested after reportedly assaulting a restaurant employee on the street in Shibuya while being intoxicated. Rotoahea was believed t

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 -

Toshiba Brave Lupus’ standout centre Rob Thompson has been ruled out for six weeks after sustaining a broken finger in Saturday’s loss to Black Rams Tokyo in Kagoshima. Palmerston North product Thompson, 34, who has been playing the best rugby of his career this season, played the full 80 minutes in the back-to-back champions’ fourth consecutive loss. RugbyJP.com understands that the former Highlanders and Māori All Blacks midfielder will undergo surgery this week and then f

Japan head coach Eddie Jones has criticised World Rugby after the sport’s governing body issued a statement declaring the game is in a strong position following a 200-person Shape of the Game conference in London. The annual conference, which was attended by global rugby leaders including Japan Rugby Football Union Chairman Kensuke Iwabuchi, is “integral” to the body’s new strategic plan – which is yet to be unveiled – the International Federation announced. World Rugby annou

Fit-again Japan star Dylan Riley returns to action for Saitama Wilds Knights on Saturday and will partner Damian de Allende for the first time this season against Honda Heat. Riley, 28, has recovered from a fractured finger that he sustained against Mitsubishi Dynaboars on 28 December, as RugbyJP.com exclusively revealed in January. The former Australia u20s international underwent surgery on his little finger which involved inserting k-wires to help repair the fracture. Ats

Former Japan captain Lappies Labuschagne will make his 50th League One appearance and 100th Kubota Spears appearance when he makes his long-awaited first-team return against Mitsubishi Dynaboars on Saturday. Labuschagne, 37, has overcome a number of injury setbacks to return to League One duty for the first time since their loss to Toshiba Brave Lupus in last year’s final. His career has gone in a completely different direction to what he envisaged growing up but he has embra

Japan teammates Warner Dearns and Mamoru Harada will go head-to-head on their respective Super Rugby debuts today as the Hurricanes host Moana Pasifika in Wellington. Wellington-born Brave Blossoms captain Dearns, 23, starts in the second-row as Clark Laidlaw’s Hurricanes open their campaign at home following a bye in round one. Harada, 26, comes into Pasifika’s 23 on the bench after being left out of their squad which stunned Fijian Drua on the road in Lautoka. The former To