Cape Town - Sunwolves head coach Filo Tiatia has revealed his squad for the upcoming Super Rugby season.
Former Lions and Cheetahs loose forward Willie Britz has been included, joining fullback Riaan Viljoen as the second South African-born player in the Sunwolves squad.
Britz has been plying his trade at Japanese club NTT Shining Arcs since 2015.
Another new signing is scrumhalf Fumiaki Tanaka, who played for the Highlanders in recent seasons.
One surprise omission is Akihito Yamada, the team's star winger in 2016 who scored nine tries throughout the Sunwolves' debut season.
It will be Tiatia's first season in charge since taking over from Mark Hammett.
Players in: Takeshi Hino, Kyosuke Kajikawa, Willie Britz, Uwe Helu, Yoshitaka Tokunaga, Shuhei Matsuhashi, Malgene Ilaua, Yuhimaru Mimura, Takahiro Ogawa, Tanaka, Yuki Yatomi, Hayden Cripps, Hikaru Tamura, Timothy Lafaele, Kenki Fukuoka, Teruya Goto, Yasutaka Sasakura
Players out: Shinnosuke Kakinaga, Futoshi Mori, Tim Bond, Yoshiya Hosoda, Naohiro Kotaki, Taiyo Ando, Andrew Durutalo, Shokei Kin, Atsushi Hiwasa, Daisuke Inoue, Mifiposeti Paea, Ryohei Yamanaka, Kentaro Kodama, Viliami Lolohea, John Stewart, Akihito Yamada, Hajime Yamashita
Sunwolves 2017 squad:
Forwards: Keita Inagaki, Masataka Mikami, Koki Yamamoto, Takeshi Kizu, Takeshi Hino, Shota Horie, Takuma Asahara, Heiichiro Ito, Koo Jiwon, Hitoshi Ono, Kyosuke Kajikawa, Shinya Makabe, Liaki Moli, Willie Britz, Edward Quirk, Uwe Helu, Yoshitaka Tokunaga, Shuhei Matsuhashi, Malgene Ilaua, Yuhimaru Mimura
Backs: Keisuke Uchida, Takahiro Ogawa, Fumiaki Tanaka, Kaito Shigeno, Yuki Yatomi, Harumichi Tatekawa, Hikaru Tamura, Yu Tamura, Hayden Cripps, Teruya Goto, Kenki Fukuoka, Timothy Lafaele, Derek Carpenter, Yasutaka Sasakura, Kotaro Matsushima, Riaan Viljoen