Wing Akihito Yamada will be back among the Sunwolves next season, Japan's Super Rugby franchise announced Monday, when it named the first five players to the 2018 team.
Yamada, who scored nine tries in the Sunwolves' 2016 debut season, took time off this year from Super Rugby. He rejoins standoff and 2017 co-captain Harumichi Tatekawa, flanker Ed Quirk, prop Keita Inagaki and standoff Yu Tamura. The latter four have been with the Sunwolves from the start.