Sunwolves tweak side for Highlanders
TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT: Sunwolves have made two changes to their starting XV for Friday’s match against the Highlanders in Tokyo.
One of the changes sees South African Grant Hattingh return to the starting line-up. The former Bulls player will don the No.6, replacing Ben Gunter, who takes a spot on the bench.
The other change is at scrumhalf. Japanese international Fumiaki Tanaka replaces Jamie Booth as this week’s No.9.
Dan Pryor retains the captain’s armband.
Sunwolves: 15 Ryohei Yamanaka, 14 Gerhard Van den Heever, 13 Josh Timu, 12 Rahboni Warren Vosayaco, 11 Semisi Masirewa, 10 Hayden Parker, 9 Fumiaki Tanaka, 8 Hendrik Tui, 7 Dan Pryor (captain), 6 Grant Hattingh, 5 Luke Thompson, 4 Mark Abbott, 3 Hiroshi Yamashita, 2 Nathan Vella, 1 Pauliasi Manu.
Replacements: 16 Shota Horie, 17 Alex Woonton, 18 Takuma Asahara, 19 Tom Rowe, 20 Ben Gunter, 21 Kaito Shigeno, 22 Yu Tamura, 23 Jason Emery.
Date: Friday, April 26
Venue: Prince Chichibu Memorial Stadium, Tokyo
Kick-off: 19.00 (22.00 NZ time; 10.00 GMT)
Referee: Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand)
Assistant referees: Angus Gardner (Australia), Shuhei Kubo (Japan)
TMO: Minoru Fuji (Japan)
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