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.
| 2006–07 Top League | |
|---|---|
| Countries |  Japan |
| Date | October 2006 – February 2007 |
| Champions | Toshiba Brave Lupus |
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
editCoca-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 |
| 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
editFinal standings
edit| 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 | Kobelco 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. | ||||||||||||||
|
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). | ||||||||||||||
Fixtures and results
editThis section needs expansion with: Results Rd 1-13 (source top-league.jp). You can help by adding to it. (November 2013) |
Title play-offs
editThe 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
edit| 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
edit| 4 February 2007 | Toshiba Brave Lupus | 14–13 | Suntory Sungoliath | Chichibu, Tokyo | ||
| 14:00 |
Top League Challenge Series
editKyuden Voltex and Mitsubishi Sagamihara DynaBoars won promotion to the 2007–08 Top League via the 2007 Top League Challenge Series, while Honda Heat and Kintetsu Liners progressed to the promotion play-offs.
Promotion and relegation play-offs
editTwo 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
edit- ^ "2006/07 Top League". The Rugby Archive. Archived from the original on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2022-05-26.