Leonardi starts for Sunwolves

Tomás Leonardi will make his second start of the season for the Sunwolves on Friday. The Pumas international lines up at no8 against the Stormers at Newlands Stadium in Cape Town. Ed Quirk moves to openside flank to make room, with USA’s Andrew Durutalo dropping to the bench. The change is one of seven made to the team that lost to the Kings by five points at Port Elizabeth on Saturday.

Masataka Mikami and Takuma Asahara take over at the prop positions, with Shinya Makabe starting in the second row in place of Hitoshi Ono. Yuki Yatomi will play scrumhalf as Yu Tamura moves in one spot to flyhalf. The new midfield combination will be Derek Carpenter and Mifiposeti Paea.

The Sunwolves have had a tough start to their inaugural Super Rugby campaign. Despite competitive showings they sport an 0-5 record, with three losses of five points or less. Erasing their goose egg will be a tall task in Cape Town, as the Stormers have four wins from five and currently sit on top of the South African group with 18 points.

SUNWOLVES vs Stormers
1 Masataka Mikami 2 Shota Horie (capt.) 3 Takuma Asahara 4 Shinya Makabe 5 Timothy Bond 6 Liaki Moli 7 Ed Quirk 8 Tomás Leonardi 9 Yuki Yatomi 10 Yu Tamura 11 Akihito Yamada 12 Derek Carpenter 13 Mifiposeti Paea 14 Viliami Lolohea 15 Riaan Viljoen

16 Takeshi Kizu 17 Ziun Gu 18 Shinnosuke Kakinaga 19 Yoshiya Hosoda 20 Andrew Durutalo 21 Atsushi Hiwasa 22 Harumichi Tatekawa 23 Yasutaka Sasakura