2006–07 Top League
| 2006–07 Top League | |
|---|---|
| Countries |
 Japan |
| Date | October 2006 – February 2007 |
| Champions | Toshiba Brave Lupus |
|
← 2005–06 2007–08 → | |
The 2006–07 Top League was the fourth season of Japan's domestic rugby union competition, the Top League. The league was expanded to from 12 to 14 teams for the 2006–07 season.
The top four teams in the league played in the Microsoft Cup which was officially integrated into the league from this season as the "Top League Play-off Tournament Microsoft Cup". The title was won by Toshiba Brave Lupus which also won the All-Japan Championship.
Teams
Coca-Cola West Red Sparks and IBM Big Blue were promoted to the league, bringing the number of teams from 12 to 14.
| Team | Region |
|---|---|
| Coca-Cola West Red Sparks | Fukuoka, Kyushu |
| Fukuoka Sanix Blues | Fukuoka, Kyushu |
| IBM Big Blue | Chiba, Kanto |
| Kobe Steel Kobelco Steelers | Hyogo, Kansai |
| Kubota Spears | Chiba, Kanto |
| NEC Green Rockets | Chiba, Kanto |
| Ricoh Black Rams | Tokyo, Kanto |
| Sanyo Wild Knights | Gunma, Kanto |
| Secom Rugguts | Sayama, Saitama |
| Suntory Sungoliath | Tokyo, Kanto |
| Toshiba Brave Lupus | Tokyo, Kanto |
| Toyota Verblitz | Aichi, Tokai |
| World Fighting Bull | Kobe, Kansai |
| Yamaha Jubilo | Shizuoka, Tokai |
Regular season
Final standings
| Top League Table | ||||||||||||||
| Club | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Points For | Points Against | Points Difference | Try Bonus | Losing Bonus | Points | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Toshiba Brave Lupus | 13 | 12 | 0 | 1 | 502 | 234 | 268 | 11 | 1 | 60 | |||
| 2 | Suntory Sungoliath | 13 | 11 | 0 | 2 | 545 | 161 | 384 | 10 | 2 | 56 | |||
| 3 | Yamaha Jubilo | 13 | 10 | 1 | 2 | 379 | 306 | 73 | 5 | 1 | 48 | |||
| 4 | Toyota Verblitz | 13 | 9 | 0 | 4 | 448 | 267 | 181 | 8 | 3 | 47 | |||
| 5 | Sanyo Wild Knights | 13 | 8 | 0 | 5 | 525 | 321 | 204 | 8 | 3 | 43 | |||
| 6 | Kobe Steelers | 13 | 8 | 0 | 5 | 360 | 306 | 54 | 8 | 2 | 42 | |||
| 7 | NEC Green Rockets | 13 | 7 | 0 | 6 | 281 | 321 | -40 | 7 | 3 | 38 | |||
| 8 | Kubota Spears | 13 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 385 | 402 | -17 | 5 | 1 | 30 | |||
| 9 | Fukuoka Sanix Blues | 13 | 5 | 1 | 7 | 281 | 423 | -142 | 4 | 2 | 28 | |||
| 10 | Coca-Cola West Red Sparks | 13 | 4 | 0 | 9 | 267 | 368 | -101 | 4 | 1 | 21 | |||
| 11 | Ricoh Black Rams | 13 | 4 | 0 | 9 | 233 | 371 | -138 | 3 | 2 | 21 | |||
| 12 | IBM Big Blue | 13 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 241 | 503 | -262 | 3 | 1 | 16 | |||
| 13 | Secom Rugguts | 13 | 2 | 0 | 11 | 255 | 449 | -194 | 3 | 3 | 14 | |||
| 14 | World Fighting Bull | 13 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 211 | 481 | -270 | 2 | 1 | 7 | |||
|
• The top 4 teams qualified for the title play-offs. | ||||||||||||||
|
Source:The Rugby Archive[1] Four points for a win, two for a draw, one bonus point for four tries or more (BP1) and one bonus point for losing by seven or less (BP2). | ||||||||||||||
Title play-offs
The top four teams in the league were Toshiba, Suntory, Yamaha, and Toyota. They played in the Microsoft Cup (2007) knock-out tournament to fight it out for the Top league title, which was officially integrated into the league from this season as the "Top League Play-off Tournament Microsoft Cup".
The cup was won by Toshiba Brave Lupus which also won the All-Japan Championship.
Semi-finals
| 28 January 2007 | Toshiba Brave Lupus | 38 - 35 | Toyota Verblitz | Chichibu, Tokyo | ||
| 14:00 |
| 28 January 2007 | Yamaha Jubilo | 39 - 40 | Suntory Sungoliath | Hanazono | ||
| 14:00 |
Final
| 4 February 2007 | Toshiba Brave Lupus | 14 - 13 | Suntory Sungoliath | Chichibu, Tokyo | ||
| 14:00 |
Challenge series
Challenge 1
The top-placed regional teams from East Japan, West Japan and Kyushu played each other in Challenge 1. The top two were automatically promoted, replacing the 13th and 14th teams which were automatically relegated. The third-placed team played the 12th placed Top League team, with the winner of that game taking a Top League place.[2]
| Kintetsu Liners | 31 - 32 | Mitsubishi Dynaboars | ||||
| 14:00 |
| Kyuden Voltex | 41 - 21 | Kintetsu Liners | ||||
| 14:00 |
| Mitsubishi Dynaboars | 12 - 49 | Kyuden Voltex | ||||
| 14:00 |
Final order: 1st-Kyuden, 2nd-Mitsubishi, 3rd-Kintetsu.
So Secom and World (13th and 14th) were automatically relegated, to be replaced by Kyuden Voltex, the third team from Kyushu to enter the league, and Mitsubishi Dynaboars from Kanto.
Challenge 2
The second-placed regional teams played each other in Challenge 2 for the right to play the 9th through 11th placed Top League teams, with the winner of each promotion/relegation match taking a Top League place.
| Honda Heat | 54 - 34 | Tokyo Gas Rugby Club | ||||
| 14:00 |
| Mazda Blue Zoomers | 10 - 74 | Honda Heat | ||||
| 14:00 |
| Tokyo Gas Rugby Club | 78 - 12 | Mazda Blue Zoomers | ||||
| 14:00 |
Final order: 1st-Honda, 2nd-Tokyo Gas, 3rd-Mazda.
Promotion and relegation play-offs
Two promotion/relegation matches (Irekaesen) were played with the winners qualifying for the 2007–08 Top League.
The 11th placed team from the Top League played against the 1st placed team from Challenge 2. The 12th placed team from the Top League played against the 3rd placed team from Challenge 1.
| 12 February 2007 | IBM Big Blue | 29 - 29 | Kintetsu Liners | |||
| 14:00 |
| 12 February 2007 | Ricoh Black Rams | 43 -24 | Honda Heat | |||
| 14:00 |
So IBM (despite only obtaining a draw against Kinetsu), and Ricoh remained in the Top League for 2007–08.
References
- ↑ "2006/07 Top League". The Rugby Archive.
- ↑ "Japan - Top League Challenge 2006/07". rugbyarchive.net. Retrieved 21 November 2013.