Former Glasgow Warriors number eight Jack Dempsey helped his new club Toshiba Brave Lupus Musashi to a win in their first pre-season game against rivals Saitama Wild Knights on Saturday. Dempsey, 32, has joined the 2024 and 2025 League One champions on a lucrative four-year deal and has been training with his new employers since August. The former Wallaby was signed as a replacement for All Black Shannon Frizell who returned to New Zealand in June after a three-year stay in J

Japan head coach Eddie Jones believes that their super-fast brand of rugby can make the Brave Blossoms the team that everyone wants to watch at the 2027 Rugby World Cup. Jones’ vastly-improved side has turned a corner this year, winning their first Pacific Nations Cup (PNC) title since 2019 following hard-fought 20-15 win against Fiji in September. The 2019 Rugby World Cup quarter-finalists had made a dream start to the inaugural Nations Championship by beating Italy 27-10 in

Former Toshiba Brave Lupus flanker Shannon Frizell has returned to the All Blacks squad for the first time since the 2023 Rugby World Cup after being named in a 34-man squad for the two-Test Bledisloe Cup series against the Wallabies. The 32-year-old returned to New Zealand in June after spending three seasons with Japan Rugby League One outfit Toshiba alongside Richie Mo’unga during which time both players were unavailable for All Blacks selection. © JRLO Tonga-born Frizell,

New Toshiba Brave Lupus signing Jack Dempsey has confirmed his availability for Scotland for next season during his unveiling at the club’s base in Fuchu today. Sydney-born Dempsey, 32, has joined the two-time League One winners on a four-year deal as a replacement for All Black Shannon Frizell who has returned to New Zealand after three years in Japan. The ex-Wallabies international completed a three-year stand down period in 2022 and has since won 35 caps for Gregor Townsen

Former Toshiba Brave Lupus utility-back Stephanus du Toit has returned to his native South Africa while plotting his next opportunity in the game after becoming a free agent in June, five months after making his League One debut. The 25-year-old's talent was nurtured at the world-renowned Paarl Gymnasium High School which has produced a conveyor belt of South African legends including Schalk Burger, Jean De Villiers and Handré Pollard. His eye-catching displays caught the att

The Welsh Rugby Union remains coy on their interest in All Black and ex-Toshiba loose forward Shannon Frizell who will re-qualify for Wales next month, after declining to comment on the subject to RugbyJP.com. The 33-Test flanker will re-qualify for his home nation of Tonga - who he represented in age group rugby and football before moving to New Zealand in 20215 - and Wales, who he qualifies for through his Swansea-born adoptive father Andrew, from 28 October. © JRLO That da

RugbyJP.com has compiled a 12-man list of high-profile Japan Rugby League One players who could potentially switch Test nations in the 2026/2027 season. Toyota's Mark Tele'a and Suntory's Kotaro Matsushima contest a high ball - © JRLO Notes: This is a list of players who have the possibility of changing nations (as it stands) providing they complete a mandatory three-year stand down period from their last Test match. All requests for a change in nationality are subject to app

Toshiba Brave Lupus has replaced their two-time League One-winning head coach Todd Blackadder, RugbyJP.com can exclusively reveal. Ex-All Blacks captain Blackadder, 54, led the club to consecutive league titles in 2024 and 2025 before a quarter-final exit in this year’s play-offs after an injury-plagued campaign. The former Crusaders head coach’s last public appearance was during an end-of-season press conference on 11 June. Toshiba’s general manager Masahiro Kunda will offic

Former Toshiba Brave Lupus prop and recent Japan call-up Vea Taumoefolau is aiming to secure a Super Rugby contract after landing a deal with NPC side Tasman. New Zealand-born Taumoefolau, 24, a two-time League One winner, sent shockwaves through the Japanese scene when he left Toshiba in March due to personal reasons. The Kyoto Sangyo University graduate, who also qualifies for Tonga on heritage grounds, recently returned to action for amateur club Stoke Rugby in Nelson, New

Japan captain Warner Dearns has revealed that he turned down an approach to switch allegiances to represent his native New Zealand after a title-winning Super Rugby campaign with the Hurricanes. Dearns, 24, who will win his 33rd cap for the Brave Blossoms in Saturday’s Nations Championship clash against Italy, confirmed that he was approached about the possibility of standing down from Test rugby for three years in order to become eligible for New Zealand. © JRFU The Toshiba

Crusaders captain and All Black David Havili will join two-time League One champions Toshiba Brave Lupus, RugbyJP.com understands. Havili, 31, has spent his entire Super Rugby career with the Christchurch-based powerhouse franchise and this year’s semi-finalists announced on Tuesday that he will be taking up a new opportunity in Japan. The 32-cap All Black finished the season strongly in red and black and is proud of the legacy he will leave behind at incoming head coach Scot

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

Kubota Spears overpowered defending champions Toshiba Brave Lupus 26-3 in the League One quarter-finals as Richie Mo’unga’s bid for an unprecedented 'three-peat' was ended by Bernard Foley and Malcolm Marx’s 2023 winners. In an absorbing encounter at Tokyo’s Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium, Frans Ludeke’s Kubota outmuscled their opponents up front and starved them off possession for long periods of the game to go some way to avenging last year’s loss in the final. Ex-Wallabies f

Toshiba Brave Lupus fly-half Richie Mo’unga is confident that the back-to-back champions can keep their ‘three-peat’ dream alive when they face Kubota Spears in Sunday’s quarter-final. Two-time MVP Mo’unga, 31, who will return to New Zealand when his three-year deal finishes in June, spoke to the media at the club’s headquarters in Fuchu as Todd Blackadder’s side prepare to face Frans Ludeke’s Kubota in a rematch of last year’s final. Champions Toshiba had a wildly inconsiste

World Cup-winning former All Blacks head coach Sir Graham Henry believes that New Zealand Rugby (NZR) should take a flexible approach regarding the eligibility of Japan-based Richie Mo’unga, Shannon Frizell and Brodie Retallick this summer. Henry, 79, was this week appointed as a NZR selector as new head coach Dave Rennie announced the legendary coach’s return to the All Blacks fold during his press conference in Auckland on Tuesday. The former Wales boss has had several shor

Blacks Rams Tokyo’s World Cup-winning captain TJ Perenara lauded Suntory Sungoliath full-back Cheslin Kolbe as one of the best players in the world ahead of their League One quarter-final next week. Perenara, who was speaking at the Japan Rugby League One (JRLO) Play-Offs Media Conference in Akihabara, Tokyo, on Thursday afternoon, identified the Springboks superstar - who finished the regular season as the top points scorer - as the greatest threat posed by their Tokyo rival

Newly-appointed New Zealand Rugby chief executive Steve Lancaster has reiterated the organisation's stance on the eligibility of overseas players and confirmed that Toshiba’s Richie Mo’unga will not be available for selection this summer. Back-to-back League One winner and MVP Mo’unga, 31, is in the final month of his three-year contract with Todd Blackadder’s Toshiba Brave Lupus and will return to New Zealand in June on an 18-month contract. The contract, which was announced

Honda Heat star Tevita Ikanivere, Shizuoka Blue Revs wing Semi Radradra and Toshiba Brave Lupus centre Seta Tamanivalu have been named in Fiji’s provisional 50-man squad for the inaugural Nations Championship. Fiji captain Ikanivere has starred in his first season in Japan with nine tries in 16 games for Kieran Crowley’s Suzuka-based side and will be expected to lead the talent-rich group picked by interim head coach Senirusi Seruvakula. © Fiji Rugby Ex-NRL star Radradra make

Toshiba Brave Lupus fly-half Richie Mo’unga believes that he is returning to New Zealand as a better player and is open to a possible return to Japan in 2028. The 31-year-old has won back-to-back titles and MVP awards and, while the champions have not reached the same level as their two title-winning campaigns, they’re narrowly holding onto the last play-off spot with two games to go. Mo’unga and All Blacks teammate Shannon Frizell, 32, who will also return home to become eli

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