Sunwolves bank on former Bulls
TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT: The Bulls will be forgiven if they feel they are in a South African derby when they face the Sunwolves in Singapore on Saturday.
Not only is the Sunwolves team captained by a South Africa, loose forward Willem Britz, but a few former Bulls players have also been listed in the matchday squad.
Gerhard van den Heever, who played more than 70 games for the Bulls, will start at fullback.
Grant Hattingh, who also played more than 50 games for the Bulls, will provide second row cover off the bench.
The former Bulls contingent in the Sunwolves team is completed by prop Hencus van Wyk, who played more than 20 times for the Pretoria-based outfit.
The team to start against the Bulls face eight changes from that which lost (31-41) to the Brumbies in Round 16.
Van den Heever replaces Robbie Robinson at fullback, Michael Little is at inside centre in place of Harumichi Tatekawa, Akihito Yamada is on the left wing for Sione Teaupa, Yoshitaka Tokunaga starts at No.8 ahead of Rahboni Warren-Vosayaco, Shunsuke Nunomaki will play flank in place of Ed Quirk, Uwe Helu comes in at lock in place of the injured Sam Wykes, Takuma Asahara start ahead of Van Wyk, who is on the bench, and Jaba Bregvadze is the hooker in place of Atsushi Sakate.
Sunwolves: 15 Gerhard van den Heever, 14 Semisi Masirewa, 13 Jason Emery, 12 Michael Little, 11 Akihito Yamada, 10 Hayden Parker, 9 Keisuke Uchida, 8 Yoshitaka Tokunaga, 7 Shunsuke Nunomaki, 6 Willem Britz (captain), 5 Uwe Helu, 4 James Moore, 3 Takuma Asahara, 2 Jaba Bregvadze, 1 Craig Millar.
Replacements: 16 Yusuke Niwai, 17 Shintaro Ishihara, 18 Hencus van Wyk, 19 Grant Hattingh, 20 Rahboni Warren Vosayako, 21 Fumiaki Tanaka, 22 Rikiya Matsuda, 23 Ryoto Nakamura.
Date: Saturday, June 30
Venue: National Stadium, Singapore
Kick-off: 19.55 (13.55 SA time; 11.55 GMT)
Referee: Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand)
Assistant referees: Shuhei Kubo (Japan), Tasuku Kawahara (Japan)
TMO: Minoru Fuji (Japan)
