{"id":45092,"date":"2026-07-28T03:34:35","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T03:34:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/irish-rugby-james-lowe-signs-for-suntory-sungoliath-after-leaving-leinster\/"},"modified":"2026-07-28T03:34:40","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T03:34:40","slug":"irish-rugby-james-lowe-signs-for-suntory-sungoliath-after-leaving-leinster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/irish-rugby-james-lowe-signs-for-suntory-sungoliath-after-leaving-leinster\/","title":{"rendered":"Irish rugby: James Lowe signs for Suntory Sungoliath after leaving Leinster"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Tokyo Suntory Sungoliath have confirmed the signing of former Ireland and Leinster wing James Lowe on a two-year deal. <\/b><\/p>\n

Lowe departed Irish rugby at the end of the 2025-26 season after failing to agree a contract extension with Leinster, for whom he scored a record 71 tries. <\/p>\n

The 34-year-old won two Six Nations titles with Ireland, including the Grand Slam, and played at the 2023 World Cup.<\/p>\n

The New Zealand-born back also won a Champions Cup and six United Rugby Championship titles with Leinster and played two Tests for the British and Irish Lions in last year’s series win over the Wallabies in Australia.<\/p>\n

Lowe’s contract with the Japanese side until 2028 will seemingly rule him out of making an Ireland comeback at next year’s World Cup in Australia.<\/p>\n

While Ireland boss Andy Farrell did not shut the door<\/a> on an international return for Lowe, the Irish Rugby Football Union has not selected an overseas-based player since Johnny Sexton while he was with Racing 92 in 2015.<\/p>\n

“To everyone in the Suntory Sungoliath family, my family and I are incredibly excited to begin this new chapter of our lives in Japan. I have some very special memories from playing there,” said Lowe, who earned 45 Ireland caps. <\/p>\n

“I have always admired the passion for rugby, the respect shown both on and off the field and the pride people take in representing their team. I am looking forward to learning more about Japan and its culture. It is a huge honour to join such a prestigious club.<\/p>\n

“I will do everything I can to earn the trust of my team-mates, coaches and supporters. I want to bring energy, physicality and a positive attacking mindset to the team. I can’t wait to get stuck in! I can’t wait to meet you all! Yatte Minahare [Go for it],” he said.<\/p>\n

Lowe joins Suntory as a replacement for South Africa World Cup winner Cheslin Kolbe, who has rejoined the Stormers. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tokyo Suntory Sungoliath have confirmed the signing of former Ireland and Leinster wing James Lowe on a two-year deal. Lowe departed Irish rugby at the end of the 2025-26 season after failing to agree a contract extension with Leinster, for whom he scored a record 71 tries. The 34-year-old won two Six Nations titles with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":45093,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45092"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45092"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45092\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45094,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45092\/revisions\/45094"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}