Loose forward Willie Britz was the surprise inclusion when the Sunwolves announced their squad for the 2017 Super Rugby season.

Britz joined the Cheetahs from the Lions in 2015, but has been struggling to get game time over the past couple of seasons because of numerous injuries.

He joined the NTT Shining Arcs in the off-season in 2015, but on Monday coach Filo Tiatia confirmed that Britz won't be returning to his South African Super Rugby franchise, and will instead represent the Sunwolves in the competition next year.

Britz will link up with former Cheetahs utility back Riaan Viljoen at the Sunwolves.

Ex-Highlanders scrumhalf Fumiaki Tanaka was also unveiled as one of the Sunwolves' new signings, while the team's top try-scorer in 2016, Akihito Yamada, was omitted from the squad.

Sunwolves squad:

Forwards – Keita Inagaki, Masataka Mikami, Koki Yamamoto, Takeshi Kizu, Takeshi Hino, Shota Horie, Takuma Asahara, Heiichiro Ito, Koo Jiwon, Hitoshi Ono, Kyosuke Kajikawa, Shinya Makabe, Liaki Moli, Willem Britz, Edward Quirk, Uwe Helu, Yoshitaka Tokunaga, Shuhei Matsuhashi, Malgene Ilaua, Yuhimaru Mimura.

Backs – Keisuke Uchida, Takahiro Ogawa, Fumiaki Tanaka, Kaito Shigeno, Yuki Yatomi, Harumichi Tatekawa, Hikaru Tamura, Yu Tamura, Hayden Cripps, Teruya Goto, Kenki Fukuoka, Timothy Lafaele, Derek Carpenter, Yasutaka Sasakura, Kotaro Matsushima, Riaan Viljoen.

Photo: Charle Lombard/Gallo Images