Sunwolves head coach Filo Tiatia has rotated his team for this weekend’s Super Rugby match against the Stormers in Singapore.
Tiatia has shuffled his backline and made three changes to the pack.
Jamie-Jerry Taulagi moves to fullback, Shota Emi shifts to the wing and Timothy Lafaele moves from inside to outside centre opening the way for Derek Carpenter at 12.
“We tried to adjust to the jet lug and successfully doing it since came back from South Africa,” said head coach Filo Tiatia.
“We also successfully adjusted to the Humidity and temperature. It is the same condition for both sides and the one adjusted well will be getting the victory. We really enjoy playing rugby in Singapore. The facility is excellent and the staff from the Sports Hub is always friendly and supportive. We trained at the school and had a little greeting with the local students. ”
“That was a great experience for some of us.”
“Shota Emi will play in wing which is his preferred position on this weekend. His performance against the Bulls was fantastic. I believe he will be fantastic again playing in wing again on this weekend too. Many players can play in multiple position so Jamie-Jerry Taulagi will play in Full Buck to start against Stormers.
“That will be fantastic for the team. Takaaki Nakazuru will be resting on this weekend because he played for whole 4 games but I am quite satisfied that the new combination of back 3 among Emi, Nakazuru, and Kenki Fukuoka so far.”
Jumpei Ogura who starts in the flyhalf jersey said, ” I will do my best to execute my role and deliver our ball to the space. This will be the first time starting in the Super Rugby competition so I would like to play in the way we want with good contents. We will make our utmost effort for the first win of the season so please support us.
Shota Emi added that he was pleased to be back on the wing and said “I will play for my preferred position, wing against the Bulls this weekend so my job will be scoring tries as a winger and contribute for the team. I will execute my role throughly.”
Sunwolves
15 Jamie-Jerry Taulagi, 14 Shota Emi, 13 Timothy Lafaele, 12 Derek Carpenter, 11 Kenki Fukuoka, 10 Jumpei Ogura, 9 Keisuke Uchida, 8 Willem Britz, 7 Shokei Kin, 6 Ed Quirk (c), 5 Sam Wykes, 4 Liaki Moli, 3 Heiichiro Ito, 2 Yusuke Niwai, 1 Koki Yamamoto
Replacements: 16 Atsushi Sakate, 17 Masataka Mikami, 18 Takuma Asahara, 19 Uwe Helu, 20 Shumei Matsuhashi, 21 Kaito Shigeno, 22 Hayden Cripps, 23 Ryohei Yamanaka
