Wednesday 25 November 2015 12:20, UK
Super Rugby chiefs insist Japan's Sunwolves will be part of their competition next season.
Sunwolves are one of three new teams which will increase the league to 18 when the campaign begins, along with an as-yet unnamed Argentine side and South Africa's Kings.
Three months before their maiden fixture, however, the Sunwolves have yet to employ a head coach or any publicly disclosed players.
New England coach Eddie Jones had initially been lined up for the role but walked away before the World Cup, later agreeing to join the Stormers before he was approached by the RFU.
Andy Marinos, who starts his post as the CEO with the league's governing body SANZAR in January - is "100 per cent confident" the Sunwolves will be ready.
He said: "They have contracted a core group of around 24 to 25 Japanese players. We expect they will finalise their coach in the next week or two.
"There are obviously a few players who are waiting to understand who that coach is before they commit. We expect to see a lot more traction in the next week or two."
Sunwolves, who will play some of their games in Singapore, will debut against South Africa's Lions in Tokyo on February 27.
New Zealand Rugby boss Steve Tew said earlier this month that SANZAR stakeholders remained "pretty nervous" about Japan's readiness for Super Rugby.
There are few concerns about the as-yet unbranded Argentinian side's competitiveness given the Pumas squad that reached the semi-finals of the World Cup will provide the core of the team.
Marinos added: "What we have seen over the last 20 years is surprise teams come up and what would be considered strong teams, for whatever reasons, don't really hit the highs that you want.
"But overall, the standard has been of an acceptable level. I have no doubt that any one of those teams that don't start the season off well will have a huge upset at some stage.
"With the Kings and Japan it's a hell of a lot of the unknown. How are they going to adapt to the travel, to the schedule?
"I've learned one thing in rugby - you can never start writing off teams before the competition actually properly gets underway."
