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Star Chiefs fullback confirms move to Japan club

Shaun Stevenson of the Chiefs. Photo by Michael Bradley/Getty Images

As expected, after spending a short-term sabbatical at his future club earlier this season, the Chiefs have confirmed that Shaun Stevenson will depart the Hamilton-based franchise at the end of the season for Japan’s Kubota Spears.

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Stevenson, who has played over 100 matches for the Chiefs and one Test for the All Blacks, will leave New Zealand after the 2025 Super Rugby Pacific season.

The 28-year-old spent the first three rounds of Super Rugby Pacific in 2025 with the Spears in Japan after NZR declined his request to leave his contract in December 2024, granting him a short-term sabbatical instead.

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Simon Graafhuis, the Chiefs Rugby Club CEO, saidShaun has been a special part of our club for nearly a decade – not just for his talent on the field, but for the character and energy he brings off it.

He’ll always be part of our Chiefs whanau and I look forward to seeing him shine in Japan.”

Stevenson told the Waikato Times in March that he was disappointed with the communication from All Blacks coaches.

“Just the lack of feedback and just not knowing where I sat in the pecking order,Stevenson told The Waikato Times.

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The deal that the Chiefs fullback has signed with the Kubota Spears is until 2027.

The Spears have just finished their 2025 season on Sunday, losing to Richie Mo’unga and Shannon Frizell’s Toshiba Brave Lupus in the final, 18-13.

Kubota Spears’ fans can be excited heading into next year’s competition, as today the club have also announced they are re-signing Bernard Foley and Malcolm Marx alongside Stevenson.

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RedWarriors 3 hours ago
'Not a normal rugby team' - The Leinster flex that floored Jake White

I was actually at the match. Leinster were the outstanding team in the league stage. Leinster’s squad depth meant the Bulls could only nick a late win in Pretoria against an understrenght Leinster. Simple put, Leinster are significantly better this year compared to last. The Dublin match last year was a big win by Leinster. Yes they won by a point in the RDS three years ago but thats not relevant to yesterday.

As Leinster are such a dangerous team, it forces an opponent to focus on a strategy to undermine them and that way get their game on the pitch. Leinster allowed that against Northampton. But that was not going to happen again. The Bulls attack in last 10 minutes of the first half was as savage as anything in the URC this year. Yet Leinsters coaching plan repelled them allied to savage commitment from the players. The defense was outstanding, pressure at breakdown outstanding. Leinster did not win the European cup but arguably at their best this year no other European team could reach that height. They reached that yesterday. Leinster completely removed Bulls ability to hurt them.

And Croke Park….100 years ago the Brits fired machine guns into spectators injuring 100s and killing loads. No Irish team ever performs badly there. Same with Irish supporters. Opposition players might as well be Brit Tommies with machine guns.

I think a great Leinster team, played a great game plan, to the height of their power in a horrible stadium for opponents. If Bulls score before half time they were back in the match. They went down, but they went down fighting.

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