Four players with Australian Super Rugby experience and ex-England and NRL star Ben Te'o will line up with the Sunwolves in next year’s Super Rugby competition.
Ahead of what will be their last season in Super Rugby, the Sunwolves announced a preliminary list of 15 players on Tuesday and there were many familiar names for Aussie fans.
Te'o, who played for the Rabbitohs and Queensland in rugby league before playing 16 Tests for England under Eddie Jones, has been contracted by the Sunwolves for the 2020 season. Te'o is currently playing for Toulon in the Top 14.
Also suiting up for the Sunwolves will be former Wallabies, Queensland and Rebels backrower Jake Schatz, who won a Super Rugby title with Queensland in 2011 and was capped twice by Australia in 2014. Schatz has been playing for London Irish for the last three years.
Two recently departed Brumbies are also set to suit up for the Sunwolves, with utility back Jordan Jackson-Hope and injury-plagued backrower Ben Hyne also announced by the Sunwolves for the 2020 season.
Tongan Test backrower Onehunga Kaufusi, who came through the Western Force academy and played for the Spirit and the Force in 2016-17, is also among the Sunwolves’ list of 2020 players.
サンウルブズ2020シーズン スコッド第一次発表🔥
— サンウルブズ/SUNWOLVES (@sunwolves) November 26, 2019
ファンの皆さま、大変長らくお待たせいたしました。
本日開催された記者会見にて、第一次スコッドが発表となりました👏👏
新制サンウルブズのご声援をよろしくお願いします！！https://t.co/WKPqEu3cKc pic.twitter.com/fGYVaLeQyJ
There were no Top League players listed in the preliminary squad, further the speculation about leading Japanese players not being released to play in Super Rugby.
Earlier this year, the Japanese Rugby Football Union elected to not fund the Sunwolves’ continued involvement in Super Rugby from 2021 onwards, preferring to instead focus on developing their own competitions.
