The Sunwolves have named a final 39-man squad ahead of their Super Rugby debut this weekend.
According to Kyodo News, prop Takuma Asahara and wing Viliami Lolohea have been added to the squad, with the latter replacing Amanaki Lotoahea, who picked up an injury in a pre-season match.
There is also a possibility that the Sunwolves will lose Akihito Yamada later in the season due to sevens commitments.
Coach Mark Hammett has said he would like to add more players to the existing squad, particularly to fill the void at outside centre.
Furthermore, the coaching team has been announced, with Atsushi Tanabe becoming the first ever Japanese assistant coach in Super Rugby. Tanabe will be in charge of the backline, as well as skills development.
It is still not certain whether Hammett will have returned to the team before they take on the Lions in their inaugural Super Rugby match this Saturday. Hammett returned home to New Zealand on Friday following the death of his mother.
Sunwolves squad – Takuma Asahara, Ziun Gu, Shohei Hirano, Keita Inagaki, Shinnosuke Kakinaga, Masataka Mikami, Koki Yamamoto, Ryuhei Arita, Shota Horie (c), Takeshi Kizu, Futoshi Mori, Tim Bond, Yoshiya Hosoda, Shinya Makabe, Liaki Moli, Hitoshi Ono, Kazuhiko Usami, Taiyo Ando, Andrew Durutalo, Fa'atiga Lemalu, Tomás Leonardi, Tsuyoshi Murata, Ed Quirk, Atsushi Hiwasa, Daisuke Inoue, Kaito Shigeno, Yuki Yatomi, Tusi Pisi, Yu Tamura, Harumichi Tatekawa, Derek Carpenter, Mifiposeti Paea, Ryohei Yamanaka, Viliami Lolohea, John Stewart, Akihito Yamada, Yasutaka Sasakura, Riaan Viljoen, Hajime Yamashita.
Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images
