New Zealander Mark Hammett was confirmed as the inaugural coach of Japan’s new Super Rugby team the Sunwolves yesterday, unveiled at a press conference just over two months before the side’s maiden match.
The former All Blacks hooker, who had four seasons in charge at the Wellington Hurricanes, also revealed the Tokyo and Singapore-based team’s 34-man squad for their first season.
The squad contained 15 players with Test experience and 10 of the Japan squad that stunned the rugby world by beating South Africa at the Rugby World Cup and went on to win three games earlier this year.
As well as a majority of players based at Japanese clubs, the playing group also features Argentina loose forward Tomas Leonardi, Riaan Viljoen of the Springboks and former Queensland Reds flanker Eddie Quirk.
The Sunwolves are joining an expanded 18-team Super Rugby competition along with Argentina’s Jaguares and South Africa’s Kings.
Sporting a red and orange strip that was also unveiled yesterday, the first Asian Super Rugby side are to play in one of the South African conferences along with the Bulls, Cheetahs and Stormers.
The announcements might go some way to easing concerns in southern hemisphere rugby union circles about how competitive the Sunwolves would be in their first season with so little time remaining before they take on South Africa’s Lions on Feb. 27.
Hammett coached the Hurricanes from 2011 to last year before he left to become the Cardiff Blues’ director of rugby, but returned home earlier this year for personal reasons.
He was a foundation player for the Canterbury Crusaders in 1996 and played 81 games for the team, winning three Super Rugny titles.
He earned 29 caps for the All Blacks from 1999 until 2003, before a neck injury forced him into retirement.
Eddie Jones, the former Japan coach now with England, was supposed to oversee the Sunwolves’ first season, but announced before the Rugby World Cup that he would be stepping down, citing a lack of ambition at the Japan Rugby Union.
Another former All Blacks forward, Jamie Joseph, is favorite to succeed Jones as Brave Blossoms coach after leading the Otago Highlanders to their first Super Rugby title earlier this year.
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