South Africa’s two-time Rugby World Cup winner Cheslin Kolbe will make his Suntory Sungoliath debut on Saturday in his new club’s last pre-season match.
Kolbe, who was unveiled to the Japanese media alongside New Zealand captain and his 2023 Rugby World Cup Final rival Sam Cane on Tuesday, will start at full-back against big-spending division two outfit Urayasu D-Rocks in Chiba.
The coveted utility back has joined from French giants Toulon amid reported interest from his former club, the Stormers.
Kolbe said: “I’m really excited for this new opportunity and I just can’t wait to get out on the field and enjoy this lovely game again and this club, the pride, the tradition, and the history.
“From a Springbok point of view, there’s quite a lot of Springboks in the league which is obviously exciting, and it’ll be strange to play against each other. To share the field with Sam will be a massive honour and a privilege, he’s the captain of New Zealand, so for him to be part of Suntory is massive for us.”
Suntory and Japan full-back Kotaro Matsushima shifts to the right wing to accommodate his new teammate while number 8 Ryuga Hashimoto captains the 2022-2023 League One Division One semi-finalists.
Cane meanwhile has had to serve a two-game ban following his Rugby World Cup final red card – after being reduced from three games by participating in a World Rugby Coaching Intervention Programme. The 2015 Rugby World Cup winner, who has left the Chiefs to play outside of his homeland for the first time in his career, has inked a 1-year deal with Suntory and will be available for round one of the new season.
Former Suntory duo Samu Kerevi and Hikaru Tamura start on the bench for the new-look D-Rocks.
The 2023-2024 League One season opens next week on Saturday 9 December.
Suntory kick-off their campaign against defending champions Kubota Spears on Sunday 10 December at Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium.
Promotion-chasing D-Rocks travel to Wayne Pivac’s NEC Green Rockets next Saturday where they will come up against their fellow Chiba team’s new captain Jake Ball and Japan’s Rugby World Cup standout Lomano Lemeki.
Pictures courtesy of Suntory Sungoliath
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