Durutalo left out of Sunwolves squad

Andrew Durutalo will not be playing Super Rugby in 2017. The US Eagles loose forward was left out of the 36-man squad named by new head coach Filo Tiatia on Monday morning. While names are still reportedly to be added, Durutalo will not be one of them with seven back row forwards already named and two of them designated as foreigners. Having already been included in the Eagles 7s teams for Dubai and Cape Town, it now looks likely that Durutalo will instead join the residential group at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista for the remainder of the HSBC Sevens Series.

The news is somewhat surprising given that Durutalo was a regular starter for the Sunwolves in 2016 and one of their best forwards, but not unexpected with Japanese rugby keen to employ as many Japan-eligible players in the build-up towards the 2019 World Cup. Only six of the 2017 squad are currently ineligible for Japan, an improvement from the 10 that took the field during the 2016 season.

Shuhei Matsuhashi, Yuhimaru Mimura, Uwe Helu, and Malgene Ilaua were all part of Japan’s squad for the November Internationals and are now set to make their Super Rugby debuts. Yoshitaka Tokunaga, one of three Olympians in the squad, makes it five Japanese loose forwards with Australian Ed Quirk the only returnee and South African Willie Britz a new addition.

Tokunaga is joined by wingers Kenki Fukuoka and Teruya Goto as the three Olympic Sevens representatives included. A fourth – Lomano Lemeki – will join the team once fully recovered from a serious knee injury suffered while playing for Japan against Georgia on November 12. He faces a race in time to be fit for the later stages of the season and the June test series.

The Sunwolves begin their second Super Rugby season on February 25 when they host the Hurricanes at Prince Chichibu Memorial Stadium in Tokyo.

SUNWOLVES 2017 SQUAD

FORWARDS
Takuma Asahara (Toshiba), Keita Inagaki (Panasonic), Heiichiro Ito (Yamaha), Ji-Won Koo (Takushoku), Masataka Mikami (Toshiba), Koki Yamamoto (Yamaha), Takeshi Hino (Yamaha), Shota Horie (Panasonic), Takeshi Kizu (Kobe Steel), Kyosuke Kajikawa (Toshiba), Shinya Makabe (Suntory), Liaki Moli (Auckland, NZ), Hitoshi Ono (Toshiba), Willie Britz (NTT Comm), Uwe Helu (Yamaha), Malgene Ilaua (Toshiba), Shuhei Matsuhashi (Ricoh), Yumiharu Mimura (Yamaha), Ed Quirk (Easts, AU), Yoshitaka Tokunaga (Toshiba)

BACKS
Takahiro Ogawa (Toshiba), Kaito Shigeno (NEC), Fumiaki Tanaka (Panasonic), Keisuke Uchida (Panasonic), Yuki Yatomi (Yamaha), Hayden Cripps (Tokyo Gas), Hikaru Tamura (Toshiba), Yu Tamura (NEC), Derek Carpenter (Suntory), Timothy Lafaele (Coca-Cola), Harumichi Tatekawa (Kubota), Kenki Fukuoka (Panasonic), Teruya Goto (NEC), Kotaro Matsushima (Suntory), Yasutaka Sasakura (Panasonic), Riaan Viljoen (NTT Docomo)