Berrick Barnes and Digby Ioane will be back on home soil next week, named in Panasonic’s Brisbane Tens squad.
Barnes and Ioane both featured in the inaugural tournament last year, though Ioane was playing for the Crusaders then.
Ex-Wallabies back Barnes has shaken off an injury suffered in the Top League final to be cleared to play in the competition.
The pair will be joined by former Wallabies lock Daniel Heenan as well as Japanese stars Akihito Yamada and Kenki Fukuoka.
Yamada and Fukuoka are among 12 Japanese internationals in the squad, set to arrive in Brisbane next week ahead of the February 9-10 tournament.
Former Wallabies coach Robbie Deans will again lead the time in the Tens, keen to show the quality of his side, which made the quarter-finals last year.
"Last year’s tournament was a great chance for us to showcase Japanese rugby on a major stage and we were delighted that we were able to do that,” he said.
“We’re treating 2018 exactly the same way. We’ve been training in snow lately so it is going to be tough acclimatising to the Queensland climate, but that is exactly the sort of challenge our players thrive upon.
“We can’t wait to get stuck into it.”
Panasonic takes on the Rebels, Blues and Reds in the Brisbane Tens, kicking off on Friday February 9.
SQUAD
Panasonic Wild Knights Brisbane Tens squad
Shohei Hirano
Atsushi Sakate
Asaeli Ai Valu
Ryota Hasegawa
Daniel Heenan
Ben Gunter
Yuji Shimogama
Ryu Koliniasi Holani
Keisuke Uchida
Berrick Barnes
Kenki Fukuoka
Rikiya Matsuda
Yasutaka Sasakura
Akitito Yamada
Digby Ioane
Jack Cornelsen
Emersen Tamura
Masaki Tani
Tevita Tupou
Takuya Yamasawa
Taiki Koyama
Iori Kaji
Yoshikazu Fujita
Yuga Hyakutake
Ryuji Noguchi
Kentaro Kodama
