2010–11 Top League

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2010–11 Top League
Flickr - tpower1978 - Microsoft Cup (cropped).jpg
Kicker Masakazu Irie of Sanyo, the 2010–11 winners.
Countries Japan Japan
Date 3 September 2010 – 10 January 2011
Champions Sanyo Wild Knights (1st title)
Runners-up Suntory Sungoliath

The 2010–11 Top League was the eighth season of Japan's domestic rugby union competition, the Top League. The Sanyo Wild Knights defeated Suntory Sungoliath 28-23 in the final of the Microsoft Cup to claim thei first Top League title.

The Top League is a semi-professional competition which is at the top of the national league system in Japan, with promotion and relegation between the next level down.

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Changes

Teams

Team Region Season
Coca-Cola West Red Sparks Fukuoka, Kyushu 5
Fukuoka Sanix Blues Fukuoka, Kyushu 7
Kintetsu Liners Osaka, Kansai 5
Kobe Steel Kobelco Steelers Hyogo, Kansai 8
Kubota Spears Chiba, Kanto 8
NEC Green Rockets Chiba, Kanto 8
NTT Shining Arcs Chiba, Chiba 1
Ricoh Black Rams Tokyo, Kanto 7
Sanyo Wild Knights Gunma, Kanto 8
Suntory Sungoliath Tokyo, Kanto 8
Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo, Kanto 8
Toyota Verblitz Aichi, Tokai 7
Toyota Industries Shuttles Aichi, Mizuho 1
Yamaha Jubilo Shizuoka, Tokai 8

Regular season

Final standings

Top League Table
Club Played Won Drawn Lost Points For Points Against Points Difference Try Bonus Losing Bonus Points
1 Toshibabravelupus.png Toshiba Brave Lupus 13 11 0 2 483 210 +273 57
2 Sanyowildknights.png Sanyo Wild Knights 13 11 0 2 545 163 +382 55
3 Toyotaverblitz.png Toyota Verblitz 13 11 0 2 446 261 +185 55
4 Suntorycolours.png Suntory Sungoliath 13 10 0 3 395 279 +22 36
5 Kobesteelers.png Kobe Steelers 13 7 0 6 395 279 +116 36
6 NECgreenrockets.png NEC Green Rockets 13 7 0 6 276 332 −37 34
7 Ricohblackrams.png Ricoh Black Rams 13 6 0 7 364 389 −25 32
8 Fukuokasanixblues.png Fukuoka Sanix Blues 13 5 1 7 357 472 −115 32
9 Kintetsuliners.png Kintetsu Liners 13 6 0 7 277 344 −67 31
10 Redsparkscolours.png Coca-Cola West Red Sparks 13 5 0 8 250 438 −188 28
11 Yamahajubilo.png Yamaha Jubilo 13 5 0 8 327 504 −177 27
12 NTT Shining Arcs colours.png NTT Shining Arcs 13 4 0 9 271 343 −72 24
13 Kubotaspears.png Kubota Spears 13 1 1 11 224 443 −219 11
14 Toyota Industries Shuttles colours.png Toyota Industries Shuttles 13 1 0 12 229 558 −329 11

 • The top 4 teams qualified to the title play-offs.
 • The top 4 teams also qualified for entry into the All-Japan Rugby Football Championship.
 • Teams 5 to 10 qualified to the wildcard play-offs for entry into the All-Japan Rugby Football Championship.
 • Teams 11 and 12 went through to the promotion and relegation play-offs against regional challengers.
 • Teams 13 and 14 were automatically relegated to the regional leagues for 2011–12.

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).
If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:
 • Difference between points for and against
 • Total number of points for
 • Number of matches won
 • Aggregate number of points scored in matches between tied teams
 • Number of matches won excluding the first match, then the second and so on until the tie is settled

Fixtures and results

Round 1









Round 2









Round 3









Round 4









Round 5









Round 6









Round 7









Round 8









Round 9









Round 10









Round 11









Round 12









Round 13









Title play-offs

Top 4 sides of the regular season competed in the Microsoft Cup (2011) knock out tournament to fight for the Top League title. The top 4 teams of 2008–09 were Toshiba Brave Lupus, Sanyo Wild Knights, Toyota Verblitz and Suntory Sungoliath.

Semi-finals




Final



Wildcard play-offs

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First round

The Top League teams ranked 7th and 10th played-off for the right to meet the Top League team ranked 5th in the second round. The Top League teams ranked 8th and 9th played-off for the right to meet the Top League team ranked 6th in the second round.


So Sanix and Ricoh progressed to the second round.

Second round

The Top League team ranked 5th played-off against the winner of the teams ranked 7th and 10th, and the Top League team ranked 6th played-off against the winner of the teams ranked 8th and 9th. The two winning second round teams advanced to the All-Japan Rugby Football Championship.


So Kobelco and NEC advanced to the All-Japan Rugby Football Championship.

Challenge series

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Challenge 2

The second-placed regional teams East Japan, West Japan, and Kyushu played each other in a round-robin tournament for the right to join Challenge 1.

Honda Heat, Tokyo Gas Rugby Club, and Mazda Blue Zoomers competed in Challenge 2.[2]


Final order: 1st-Honda, 2nd-Tokyo Gas 3rd-Mazda

So Honda advanced to Challenge 1.

Challenge 1

The top-placed regional teams from East Japan, West Japan, and Kyushu were joined by the Challenge 2 winner to play each other in a round-robin tournament. The 1st and 2nd ranked teams were automatically promoted to the 2011–12 Top League, replacing the Top League teams ranked 13th and 14th that were automatically relegated. The teams ranked 3rd and 4th went through to the promotion and relegation play-offs against the Top League teams ranked 12th and 11th, respectively.

NTT Docomo Red Hurricanes, Honda Heat, Canon Eagles, and Kyuden Voltex competed in Challenge 1.[2]


Final order: 1st-NTT, 2nd-Honda, 3rd-Canon, 4th-Kyuden

So NTT and Honda Industries were promoted to the Top League for the following season. Canon and Kyuden advanced to the promotion and relegation playoffs.

Promotion and relegation play-offs

Two promotion/relegation matches (Irekaesen) were played. The Top League teams ranked 12th and 11th played-off against the Challenge 1 teams ranked 3rd and 4th respectively, for the right to be included in the Top League for the following season.




So NTT and Yamaha remained in the Top League for the following season.

Top Ten Points Scorers

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End of season awards

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References

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  2. 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

ja:ジャパンラグビートップリーグ2009-2010