New half-backs, back-row for Sunwolves
The Sunwolves have made several changes to their team that will host the Bulls in this week’s game at Prince Chichibu Memorial Stadium.
After a bye week, Kotaro Matsushima, Takaaki Nakazuru, Hayden Cripps and Fumiaki Tanaka all come into the backline for the clash in Tokyo.
That quartet replace Jamie-Jerry Taulagi, Shota Emi, Jumpei Ogura and Keisuke Uchida respectively as the Sunwolves hunt a first win in 2017.
In the forwards, Yasuo Yamaji comes in at tighthead prop in place of Heiichiro Ito, Uwe Helu replaces Sam Wykes at lock while Rahboni Warren Vosayaco, Shuhei Matsuhashi and Yoshitaka Tokunaga form a new-look back-row, replacing Willie Britz, Shokei Kin and Ed Quirk respectively.
Sunwolves: 15 Kotaro Matsushima, 14 Takaaki Nakazuru, 13 Timothy Lafaele, 12 Derek Carpenter, 11 Kenki Fukuoka, 10 Hayden Cripps, 9 Fumiaki Tanaka, 8 Rahboni Warren Vosayaco, 7 Shuhei Matsuhashi, 6 Yoshitaka Tokunaga, 5 Uwe Helu, 4 Liaki Moli, 3 Yasuo Yamaji, 2 Yusuke Niwai, 1 Koki Yamamoto
Replacements: 16 Takeshi Kizu, 17 Keita Inagaki, 18 Heiichiro Ito, 19 Sam Wykes, 20 Shunsuke Nunomaki, 21 Yuki Yatomi, 22 Yu Tamura, 23 Ryohei Yamanaka
Date: Saturday, April 8
Venue: Prince Chichibu Memorial Stadium, Tokyo
Kick-off: 14:15 local (05:15 GMT)
Referee: Will Houston (Australia)
Assistant Referees: Rohan Hoffmann (Australia), Akhiso Aso (Japan)
TMO: Minoru Fuji (Japan)