REDS WARY OF SUNWOLVES’ CHANGEABLE ATTACK
FINALLY, a game the Reds are favoured to win yet any slip-up in concentration could also make Saturday’s game in Tokyo the most costly of the season.
Fit-again flyhalf Jono Lance has cautioned against any complacency against Japan’s winless Sunwolves, with good reason.
No other side in the competition scores 30 per cent of their tries from their own half, which is a measure of the Sunwolves’ knack for attack from anywhere.
Lance will today be named at flyhalf for the Reds after beating concussion and prop James Slipper (collarbone) is also back from a spell.
“The Sunwolves play a pretty unique style and are not afraid to attack from anywhere on the field,” Lance said. “It’s going to be a massive challenge because they have been building and they are a different beast at home.”
The Sunwolves are coming off a bye, which means shrewd Kiwi coaches Jamie Joseph and Tony Brown have had extra time to design specific ways to undermine the Reds.
The unfamiliar noon kickoff is tricky because the inexperienced Reds can’t afford to be asleep and let the Sunwolves dictate early.
“I’m normally only waking up at that time for a night match,” centre Samu Kerevi said. “We’ll have to do things a little differently because starting the match strongly is so important.”
The expected selection of young Hamish Stewart at fullback will add to the Reds’ ball-playing ability in attack.
The Reds must find ballrunning punch from elsewhere with forwards Scott Higginbotham, Caleb Timu and Lukhan Tui missing.