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2009–10 Top League

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2009–10 Top League
Season finale for 2009–10: Toshiba versus Sanyo.
CountriesJapan Japan
Date4 September 2009 - 9 January 2010
ChampionsToshiba Brave Lupus (5th title)
Runners-upSanyo Wild Knights

The 2009–10 Top League was the seventh season of Japan's domestic rugby union competition, the Top League. The Toshiba Brave Lupus defeated Sanyo Wild Knights by 6–0 in the final of the Microsoft Cup to claim their fifth Top League championship.

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.

Changes

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  • Honda Heat and Ricoh Black Rams were promoted to the Top League, replacing IBM Big Blue and Yokogawa Atlastars who were relegated.
  • Last season's rule change of allowing three overseas players on the field at any one time was altered for the 2009–10 season; one of the three overseas players must have already represented Japan, be currently eligible to represent Japan or eligible to represent Japan in the future.
  • Teams are allowed to field one player from the Asian Rugby Football Union (ARFU) outside the above restrictions on overseas players. That Asian player may have represented another country at Test, A or Sevens levels as long as that country is a Union member of the ARFU.
  • Last season the top six finishers automatically qualified for the national championship; however, this season the top four qualify, with the teams that finish 5th to 10th playing off for the remaining two Top League qualifiers.

Teams

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Team Region Season
Coca-Cola West Red Sparks Fukuoka, Kyushu 4
Fukuoka Sanix Blues Fukuoka, Kyushu 6
Honda Heat Suzuka, Mie 1
Kintetsu Liners Osaka, Kansai 4
Kobelco Steelers Hyogo, Kansai 7
Kubota Spears Chiba, Kanto 7
Kyuden Voltex Fukuoka, Kyushu 3
NEC Green Rockets Chiba, Kanto 7
Ricoh Black Rams Tokyo, Kanto 6
Sanyo Wild Knights Gunma, Kanto 7
Suntory Sungoliath Tokyo, Kanto 7
Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo, Kanto 7
Toyota Verblitz Aichi, Tokai 6
Yamaha Jubilo Shizuoka, Tokai 7

Regular season

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Final standings

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Top League Table
Club Played Won Drawn Lost Points For Points Against Points Difference Try Bonus Losing Bonus Points
1 Sanyo Wild Knights 13 12 1 0 534 175 +359 59
2 Suntory Sungoliath 13 11 2 0 570 195 +375 58
3 Toshiba Brave Lupus 13 10 0 3 436 276 +160 52
4 Toyota Verblitz 13 10 1 2 394 219 +175 48
5 Kobelco Steelers 13 7 1 5 343 303 +40 38
6 Kubota Spears 13 6 0 7 313 339 −26 31
7 Fukuoka Sanix Blues 13 6 0 7 311 371 −60 31
8 Coca-Cola West Red Sparks 13 7 0 6 299 448 −149 31
9 Yamaha Jubilo 13 5 2 6 311 327 −14 30
10 NEC Green Rockets 13 4 0 9 224 280 −56 25
11 Kintetsu Liners 13 4 1 8 218 348 −130 23
12 Ricoh Black Rams 13 4 0 9 262 422 −160 19
13 Honda Heat 13 1 0 12 255 464 −209 10
14 Kyuden Voltex 13 0 0 13 199 502 −303 4

 • 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 2010–11.

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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

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Round 1

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4 September 2009 Sanyo Wild Knights 24–11 Toshiba Brave Lupus Prince Chichibu, Tokyo  
19:30

5 September 2009 Ricoh Black Rams 23–15 Honda Heat Prince Chichibu, Tokyo  
17:00

5 September 2009 Coca-Cola West Red Sparks 19–12 Kintetsu Liners Level-5 Stadium, Fukuoka  
17:00

5 September 2009 Toyota Verblitz 18–18 Yamaha Jubilo Mizuho Stadium, Aichi  
18:00

5 September 2009 Kobelco Steelers 24–24 Suntory Sungoliath Nagai 2nd, Osaka  
18:00

5 September 2009 NEC Green Rockets 11–29 Kubota Spears Prince Chichibu, Tokyo  
19:00

5 September 2009 Fukuoka Sanix Blues 25–15 Kyuden Voltex Level-5 Stadium, Fukuoka  
19:00

Round 2

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12 September 2009 NEC Green Rockets 6–29 Toshiba Brave Lupus Fukuda Denshi Arena, Chiba  
17:00

12 September 2009 Kintetsu Liners 31–3 Kyuden Voltex Nagai 2nd, Osaka  
17:00

12 September 2009 Kubota Spears 18–11 Honda Heat Prince Chichibu, Tokyo  
18:00

12 September 2009 Honda Heat 19–45 Toyota Verblitz Suzuka Sports, Mie  
18:00

12 September 2009 Coca-Cola West Red Sparks 13–46 Suntory Sungoliath Kakidomari, Nagasaki  
18:00

12 September 2009 Kobelco Steelers 12–9 Fukuoka Sanix Blues Nagai 2nd, Osaka  
19:00

13 September 2009 Ricoh Black Rams 22–44 Sanyo Wild Knights Yamagata  
15:00

Title play-offs

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Top four sides of the regular season competed for the Top League Championship (the play-offs were not sponsored for the 2009–10 season). The teams competing were Toshiba Brave Lupus, Sanyo Wild Knights, Toyota Verblitz and Suntory Sungoliath.

Semi-finals

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24 January 2010 Toshiba Brave Lupus 35–24 Suntory Sungoliath  
14:00

24 January 2010 Sanyo Wild Knights 25–21 Toyota Verblitz  
14:00

Final

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31 January 2010 Toshiba Brave Lupus 6–0 Sanyo Wild Knights  
14:00

Wildcard play-offs

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The two second round winners qualified for the All-Japan Rugby Football Championship.

First round

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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 Coca-Cola West Red Sparks and NEC progressed to the second round.

Second round

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

Top League Challenge Series

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NTT Communications Shining Arcs and Toyota Industries Shuttles won promotion to the 2010–11 Top League via the 2010 Top League Challenge Series, while Mazda Blue Zoomers and Yokogawa Musashino Atlastars progressed to the promotion play-offs.

Promotion and relegation play-offs

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Two promotion/relegation matches (Irekaesen) were played. The Top League team ranked 12th played-off against the Challenge 1 team ranked 3rd, and the Top League team ranked 11th played-off against the Challenge 2 team ranked 1st. The winners were included in the Top League for the following season.


13 February 2010 Kintetsu Liners 28–8 Yokogawa Musashino Atlastars  
14:00

13 February 2010 Ricoh Black Rams 59–12 Mazda Blue Zoomers  
14:00

So Kintetsu and Ricoh remained in the Top League for the following season.

Top Ten Points Scorers

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Player Team Pts T C PG DG
1 Atsushi Tanabe Sanyo Wild Knights 191 4 48 25 0
2 Ryan Nicholas Suntory Sungoliath 173 6 46 17 0
3 Shaun Webb Coca-Cola West Red Sparks 150 2 28 16 7
4 Shane Drahm Kubota Spears 135 2 28 16 7
5 David Hill Toshiba Brave Lupus 122 4 39 8 0
6 Ayumu Goromaru Yamaha Jubilo 111 0 27 19 0
7 Yoshimitsu Kawano Ricoh Black Rams 102 1 23 15 2
8 Orene Ai'i Toyota Verblitz 80 4 21 5 1
9 Hirotoki Onozawa Suntory Sungoliath 70 14 0 0 0
10 Tomoki Kitagawa Sanyo Wild Knights 80 4 21 5 1

Table notes

  • Pts = Points scored
  • T = Tries
  • C = Conversions
  • PG = Penalty Goals
  • DG = Drop Goals

End-of-season awards

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References

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  1. ^ "2009/10 Top League". The Rugby Archive.
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