Kizu retains starting spot

Kizu was handed his first start of the season against the Stormers in Singapore during Round 12 and after a steady performance, coach Mark Hammett has opted to keep the young hooker in the no.2 jersey.

Centre Harumichi Tatekawa will continue to captain the team from inside centre in an unchanged starting XV.

There are however two changes to the replacements. Ziun Gu makes way for Keita Inagaki in the front row while the experienced Hitoshi "Iron Man" Ono is drafted back into the match day 23.

The Sunwolves head into the clash with a bit of momentum, having picked up an unlikely 17-17 draw against the Stormers. The Sunwolves showed they could compete against some of the best teams in the competition as they have previously beaten the Jaguares.

This will be the first time the Sunwolves will be playing on Australian soil since joining Super Rugby for the 2016 season and an interesting match is on the cards, with the Reds starting their Japanese stars in the shape of fullback Ayumu Goromaru and flank Hendrik Tui.

Sunwolves: 15 Riaan Viljoen, 14 Akihito Yamada, 13 Derek Carpenter, 12 Harumichi Tatekawa (captain), 11 John Stewart, 10 Tusi Pisi, 9 Atsushi Hiwasa, 8 Ed Quirk, 7 Andrew Durutalo, 6 Liaki Moli, 5 Fa'atiga Lemalu, 4 Tim Bond, 3 Shinnosuke Kakinaga, 2 Takeshi Kizu, 1 Masataka Mikami.

Replacements: 16 Shota Horie, 17 Keita Inagaki, 18 Takuma Asahara, 19 Hitoshi Ono, 20 Taiyo Ando, 21 Yuki Yatomi, 22 Yu Tamura, 23 Mifiposeti Paea.

Date: Saturday, May 21

Venue: Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane

Kick-off: 15.05 (05.05 GMT, 14.05 Japan time)

Referee: Will Houston

Assistant referees: Andrew Lees, Nic Berry

TMO: Damien Mitchelmore