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Sunwolves bring in SA lock for Blues visit

Cape Town - Sunwolves head coach Jamie Joseph has made just one change to his starting line-up for their Super Rugby clash with the Blues in Tokyo on Saturday.

Kick-off is at 05:05 SA time.

Despite suffering a 50-29 defeat to the Waratahs last weekend, Joseph has kept changes to a minimum with his only alteration made in the second-row where Grant Hattingh comes in for Sam Wykes.

Scrumhalf Yutaka Nagare captains the side and he will form a halfback partnership with Yu Tamura while Timothy Lafaele and Michael Little will continue as the midfield combination.

Kotaro Matsushima starts at fullback again and he is joined in the back three by wings Lomano Lemeki and Semisi Masirewa.

In the forwards, Hattingh and James Moore are the starting locks while Shota Horie packs down at hooker alongside Jiwon Koo and Craig Millar, who are the starting props.

In the back-row, Kazuki Himeno continues at No 8 while Lappies Labuschagne and Yoshitaka Tokunaga are the two flanks.

There are three changes on the replacements bench with Willie Britz coming in for Ed Quirk as the replacement loose forward while William Tupou takes over from Hosea Saumaki as back-line cover and Shintaro Ishihara is preferred to Keita Inagaki as the back-up prop.

Teams:

Sunwolves

15 Kotaro Matsushima, 14 Semisi Masirewa, 13 Timothy Lafaele, 12 Michael Little, 11 Lomano Lemeki, 10 Yu Tamura, 9 Yutaka Nagare (captain), 8 Kazuki Himeno, 7 Lappies Labuschagne, 6 Yoshitaka Tokunaga, 5 Grant Hattingh, 4 James Moore, 3 Jiwon Koo, 2 Shota Horie, 1 Craig Millar

Substitutes: 16 Jaba Bregvadse, 17 Shintaro Ishihara, 18 Nikoloz Khatiashvili, 19 Wimpie van der Walt, 20 Willie Britz, 21 Fumiaki Tanaka, 22 Hayden Parker, 23 William Tupou

Blues

15 Michael Collins, 14 Jordan Hyland, 13 Orbyn Leger, 12 Rieko Ioane, 11 Matt Duffie, 10 Stephen Perofeta, 9 Jonathan Ruru, 8 Akira Ioane, 7 Kara Pryor, 6 Jimmy Tupou, 5 Josh Goodhue, 4 Patrick Tuipulotu, 3 Ofa Tu'ungafasi, 2 James Parsons (captain), 1 Pauliasi Manu 

Substitutes: 16 Matt Moulds, 17 Ross Wright, 18 Mike Tamoaieta, 19 Ben Neenee, 20 Dalton Papali'i, 21 Sam Nock, 22 Bryn Gatland, 23 TJ Faiane

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