Toshiba Brave Lupus flanker Shannon Frizell will return to New Zealand this summer as he targets an All Blacks return which officially ends Tonga and Wales' hopes of an unlikely allegiance switch. Two-time League One winner Frizell, 32, has put pen to paper on a one-year deal and will be available to play for Tasman in the NPC - the country's round-robin National Provincial Championship - which starts in July. The 33-cap loose forward could still be fast-tracked into the All

Generational rivals and World Cup winners Faf de Klerk and Aaron Smith are poised to face off for what could be the final time in their illustrious careers when Yokohama Canon Eagles host Toyota Verblitz on Saturday. South African stalwart De Klerk, 34, and All Blacks veteran Smith, 37, both start as the former's relegation-threatened Yokohama side look to make up ground on Steve Hansen’s Aichi outfit who are in eighth position. The fit-again Springboks ace, who joined his co

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

Yokohama Canon Eagles scrum-half Faf de Klerk’s sensational first half hat-trick helped the basement outfit to stun Dave Rennie’s leaders Kobe Steelers 38-29 and move out of the relegation play-off zone. The 34-year-old double World Cup winner marked his return from an ankle injury by helping Leon MacDonald’s lowly side to a surprise win away at Honda Heat a week ago. Yokohama’s fit-again Springboks star inspired his team to consecutive wins for the first time this season wit

Kobe Steelers fly-half Bryn Gatland believes his teammate and club captain Brodie Retallick is the best lock in the world. In-form Gatland, 30, who has matured in Japan into being a highly consistent and accurate playmaker, has scored 83 points this season for the new division one leaders. The former Chiefs fly-half, who was one of new All Blacks head coach Dave Rennie’s first signings at the club in June 2023, was full of praise for the 2015 World Cup winner as talk of a ret

Fit-again Yokohama Canon Eagles scrum-half Faf de Klerk starts on his return for the relegation-threatened club who travel to Tochigi to face Honda Heat on Saturday. The 34-year-old, who returned to Japan in February after receiving treatment in South Africa, has recovered from the ankle injury he sustained in their opening round loss to Shizuoka Blue Revs on 14 December. Leon MacDonald’s basement outfit has re-registered their Springboks star and - RugbyJP.com can exclusivel

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

Newly-appointed All Blacks head coach Dave Rennie will remain with League One title contenders Kobe Steelers until the end of the season in June. Ex-Wallabies head coach Rennie, who led Kobe to a 78-19 win over Urayasu D-Rocks on Saturday, was unveiled by New Zealand Rugby (NZR) on Wednesday. The Upper Hutt native has signed on until the end of the 2027 World Cup in Australia where the All Blacks will face Australia, Chile and Hong Kong China in the group stage. An NZR press

Japan head coach Eddie Jones believes that the All Blacks should try to lure Kobe Steelers captain Brodie Retallick back to Test rugby this summer. Retallick, 34, who won the last of his 109 caps for his country in the 2023 World Cup final, is nearing the end of his three-year contract in Japan. The 2014 World Player of The Year has been in inspired form for Dave Rennie’s title candidates Kobe and is the top scorer in division one with nine tries in eight games. The former Ch

All Blacks forwards coach Jason Ryan is currently in Japan for a guest coach role with Leon MacDonald’s relegation-threatened Yokohama Canon Eagles, RugbyJP can exclusively reveal. Ryan, who joined the All Blacks fold in 2022 under then-head coach Ian Foster, has joined Jesse Kriel-led Yokohama for two weeks. New Zealand Rugby is understood to be on the verge of naming a new head coach next week following Scott Robertson's departure in January. The long-time former Crusaders

Toshiba Brave Lupus fly-half Richie Mo’unga has commented for the first time on his former coach Scott Robertson’s departure from the All Blacks. Two-time League One winner Mo’unga, 31, won seven Super Rugby titles under Robertson with the Crusaders and is two months into his third and last season in Japan. The mercurial playmaker and back-to-back MVP inked a deal with New Zealand Rugby in October return home on an 18-month contract this summer, commencing in July 2026 and ru

Former Brave Blossoms head coach Jamie Joseph, Springboks assistant coach  Tony Brown and All Blacks great Richie McCaw had lunch together on Friday in Wanaka, sources have told RugbyJP.com . Current Highlanders and All Blacks XV head coach Joseph and ex-Saitama Wild Knights fly-half Brown led Japan to the World Cup quarter-finals for the first time in their history at the tournament they hosted in 2019. The 56-year-old has been tipped to succeed ex-Black Rams Tokyo flanker S

Ireland star Bundee Aki’s cousin Larry Tipoa'i-Luteru has joined Graham Rowntree’s high-flying Urayasu D-Rocks. Samoa-born Tipoa'i-Luteru, 21, has arrived from Yokohama’s Kanto Gakuin University as an early-entry player. The powerful number eight is 6ft 3in (192cm) and weighs 18-stone-plus (119kg) which made him the tallest and heaviest member in the Kanto University League division one team’s squad. Kanto Gakuin’s co-captain can also play in the second-row and across the bac

Japan’s all-action League One competition continues this weekend with the top-flight set for its fifth instalment this season.   Yokohama Canon Eagles (12th) v Saitama Wild Knights (2nd) Mitsuzawa Stadium, Kanagawa - 12.00 KO Ex-All Blacks assistant coach Leon MacDonald’s misfiring Yokohama Canon Eagles host undefeated Saitama Wild Knights in the round’s opening game on Saturday. MacDonald’s side has tasted defeat at the hands of Shizuoka Blue Revs, Mitsubishi Dynaboars, Tosh

South Africa’s injured double World Cup winner Faf de Klerk has been de-registered by his Japanese club Yokohama Canon Eagles, RugbyJP can exclusively reveal. The 34-year-old suffered a serious ankle injury in the opening round when he attempted to tackle Shizuoka Blue Revs wing Valynce Te Whare on 14 December and returned to his homeland for medical treatment Yokohama previously announced that their injury-hit scrum-half, who has been linked with a return to the English Prem

Toshiba Brave Lupus flanker Shannon Frizell broke his hand in the opening round loss to Saitama Wild Knights in December, RugbyJP.com can exclusively reveal. The 31-year-old All Black played the full 80 minutes as the champions were routed 46-0 by the league’s inaugural winners on 14 December. The Fuchu outfit only discovered the true severity of his injury post-match. Tonga-born Frizell is remaining in Japan for treatment and will be aiming to return in time for the play-of

New Mitsubishi Sagamihara Dynaboars fly-half Shun Miyake is still committed to chasing his dream of playing for the All Blacks despite leaving New Zealand to play in League One for the first time. Kobe-born Miyake, who turned 24 on Sunday, started playing rugby at Ashiya Rugby School at the age of five and boldly moved to New Zealand on his own as a teenager to accelerate his development and to experience a different culture. Miyake immersed himself in the game in Christchurc

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

Saitama Wild Knights flanker Lachlan Boshier would welcome a call-up by Eddie Jones to play for Japan next year. Boshier, 31, who starred in Saitama’s 46-0 demolition of champions Toshiba on Sunday with a try-scoring and industrious display, spoke for the first time since qualifying for Japan on residency grounds. The ex-New Zealand u20s international left the Chiefs to join Saitama in 2022 and helped the Kumagaya outfit to win the inaugural League One title in his first seas