Kobe Steel Kobelco Steelers (神戸製鋼コベルコスティーラーズ Kobe Seiko Koberuko Suti-ra-zu) are a Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese rugby union

Rugby union

Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

 team owned by Kobe Steel, Ltd., and based in Kobe

Kobe

, pronounced , is the fifth-largest city in Japan and is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture on the southern side of the main island of Honshū, approximately west of Osaka...

. They were the first ever Top League

Top League

The Top League is a professional rugby union league created by the Japan Rugby Football Union to drive up the overall standard and popularity of the sport in the country and improve the results of the Japan national rugby union team. The first season was 2003-04 and featured 12 teams...

 champions when the League started in the 2003-4 season. They were coached by Terunori Masuho a former Waseda

Waseda University Rugby Football Club

Waseda University R.F.C. was founded in 1918. It is one of the top rugby union clubs for students in Japan, together with Kanto Gakuin University RFC, Keio University RFC and Doshisha University RFC....

 and Steelers player but he resigned after the 2006-7 season when the team was placed 6th in the Top League. For now Seiji Hirao

Seiji Hirao

Seiji Hirao was a Japanese rugby union footballer and is a current coach. He played as a fly-half. He was one of the most popular Japanese players of his time, earning the name of "Mr. Rugby"....

 is the coach.

The team plays its home games at Home's Stadium Kobe (formerly Kobe Wing Stadium).

2011-12 Squad

Past players

• Ron Cribb
  Ron Cribb
  Ronald Te Huia Cribb is a real estate agent and formerNew Zealand rugby union player. A very talented loose forward, the 1.94 m, 110 kg Cribb is a former All Black, and mainly plays number eight.- Career :...
  
  
• Dave Bickle
• Mark Egan
  Mark Egan (rugby player)
  For the jazz player see Mark Egan.Mark Egan is an Irish rugby player who has played for Terenure College and Terenure College RFC. He graduated from Oxford University and went from there to play rugby for Kobe Steel's team in Japan, now called Kobelco Steelers, where he was also a highly-respected...
  
  
• Kensuke Iwabuchi
  Kensuke Iwabuchi
  Kensuke "Kenny" Iwabuchi born on December 30, 1975 in Tokyo is a Japanese rugby player and coach. He plays at stand off, and has 20 caps for the Japan national rugby union team...
  
  
• Daisuke Ohata
  Daisuke Ohata
  Daisuke Ohata is a former Japanese rugby union player. He usually played rugby at wing, and sometimes centre, for Japan national rugby union team. He made his name internationally as a speedy ace in the IRB World Sevens Series, and went on to become a regular member of the national team...
  
  
• Andrew Miller
  Andrew Miller (rugby player)
  Andrew Miller is a New Zealander who first made his name playing rugby union at fly half for Kobe Steel Kobelco Steelers, and then in the 2003 Rugby Union World Cup playing for the Japan national rugby union team....
  
  
• Simon Wensley
• Pierre Hola
  Pierre Hola
  Pierre Hola is a Tongan rugby union footballer. He has represented Tonga and currently plays his club rugby in the Australian Shute Shield for Eastwood.-Career:Hola made his debut for Tonga in September 1998 in a match against Samoa...
  
  
• Ian Williams
  Ian Williams
  Ian Williams is an American rock guitarist. He became noted for his finger tapping guitar playing in bands such as Don Caballero, Storm & Stress and currently in Battles.-Biography:...
  
  
• Yuya Saito
  Yuya Saito
  Yuya Saito is a Japanese rugby union footballer. He plays as No. 8, currently for Toyota Jido Shokki. He graduated from Meiji University and used to play for Suntory Sungoliath before he went to play professional rugby in France for about one season.He's a regular at Japan national rugby union...
  
  
• Peter Grant
  Peter Grant (rugby player)
  Peter Grant is a South African rugby player. He was educated at Maritzburg College where he matriculated in 2001. He plays at fly-half for the Super 14 team, Stormers and for Western Province in the Currie Cup. He also has 5 tests for the Springboks team...
  
  
• Thinus Delport
  Thinus Delport
  Thinus Delport is a South African rugby union player who played at wing or fullback for Worcester Warriors and South Africa.He started his career playing for the Lions from U21 level and he made his senior debut in 1997...
  
  

External links

• Steelers upset Green Rockets in Microsoft Cup - Japan Times, January 24, 2005
• Kobelco Steelers official site
• Top League official site