Leonardí to make Sunwolves Super Rugby debut

Former Puma Tomás Leonardí is set to make his Sunwolves Super Rugby debut against there Melbourne Rebels in this weekend’s round four fixture.

The Sunwolves will play host to the Australian franchise in Tokyo as they seek their first win. In round three the Japanese side lost by a single point against the Cheetahs in a thriller played in Singapore.

Leonardí was not involved in the two Sunwolves fixtures to date – vs the Lions and Cheetahs. He will thereby make his debut should he feature from the bench against the Melbourne Rebels.

The former Southern Kings back-rower is one of two players from the Americas to feature for the Japanese franchise. USA Eagles star back-rower, Andrew Durutalo will again start at opened flanker.

Sunwolves
15 Riaan Viljoen, 14 Akihito Yamada, 13 Harumichi Tatekawa, 12 Yu Tamura, 11 Mifiposeti Paea, 10 Tusi Pisi, 9 Atsushi Hiwasa, 8 Edward Quirk, 7 Andrew Durutalo, 6 Yoshiya Hosoda, 5 Timothy Bond, 4 Hitoshi Ono, 3 Takuma Asahara, 2 Shota Horie (capt.), 1 Keith Inagaki

Replacements: 16 Takeshi Kizu, 17 Masataka Mikami, 18 Shinnosuke Kakinaga, 19 Shinya Makabe, 20 Tomás leonardi, 21 Kaito Shigeno, 22 Derek Carpenter, 23 Yasutaka Sasakura

Melbourne Rebels
15 Jonah Placid, 14 Dom Shipperley, 13 Tamati Ellison, 12 Mitch Inman, 11 Tom English, 10 Jack Debreczeni, 9 Ben Meehan, 8 Adam Thomson, 7 Sean McMahon (capt.), 6 Jordy Reid, 5 Lopeti Timani, 4 Luke Jones, 3 Laurie Weeks, 2 Pat Leafa, 1 Toby Smith

Replacements: 16 James Hanson, 17 Cruze Ah Nau, 18 Jamie Hagan, 19 Sam Jeffries, 20 Scott Fuglistaller, 21 Nic Stirzaker, 22 Dan Hawkins, 23 Sione Tuipulotu