2015–16 Top League Explained

Countries: Japan
Runnersup:Toshiba Brave Lupus
Matches:115
Top Point Scorer: Ayumu Goromaru
Yamaha Júbilo
Top Try Scorer: Taiyo Ando
Toyota Verblitz
Shota Emi
Suntory Sungoliath
Prevseason:2014–15
Nextseason:2016–17

The 2015–16 Top League was the 13th season of Japan's domestic rugby union competition, the Top League. It kicked off on 13 November 2015 and was completed on 24 January 2016. The final was won by Panasonic Wild Knights defeating Toshiba Brave Lupus by 27–26.

A short pre-season competition was also played from 3 September to 10 October 2015 to provide each Top League team with five official matches before the regular season.

Teams

The only change to the make-up of the league was the Challenge One winner Honda Heat replacing Kyuden Voltex.[1]

TeamRegionCoachCaptain
Canon EaglesMachida, Tokyo, Kantō Yoji Nagatomo
Coca-Cola Red SparksFukuoka, Kyushu Tomohiro Yamaguchi Kouta Yamashita
Suzuka, Mie Tomoaki Fujimoto
Kintetsu Liners Ryusuke Maeda Daiki Toyota
Kobelco SteelersKobe, Kansai Daiki Hashimoto
Abiko, Chiba, Kantō Toutai Kefu Naomichi Tatekawa
NEC Green Rockets Masao Amino Sunao Takizawa
NTT DoCoMo Red Hurricanes Masahiro Shimoki
NTT Com Shining ArcsChiba, Chiba, Kantō Rob Penney Yuya Mizoguchi
Panasonic Wild KnightsOta, Gunma, Kantō Robbie Deans Shota Horie
Ricoh Black RamsTokyo, Kantō Damien Hill Masahiro Noguchi
Suntory SungoliathFuchū, Tokyo, Kantō Andy Friend
Toshiba Brave LupusFuchū, Tokyo, Kantō Jimmy Stonehouse Yoshikazu Morita
Toyota Industries ShuttlesAichi, Mizuho Masaya Niu Tsuyoshi Matsuoka
Toyota, Aichi, Tokai Hiroshi Sugawara Kojiro Yoshida
Yamaha Júbilo Takanobu Horikawa

Format

Owing to the 2015 Rugby World Cup and Japan's entry into the 2016 Super Rugby tournament, the 2015–16 Top League format was altered from the previous year.

Pre-season leagueA pre-season competition was staged to provide each Top League team with five matches before the regular season. In the first stage, played from 3–19 September, the 16 teams were placed into 4 pools of 4 teams each and a round-robin was played within each pool.

For the second stage, played from 3–10 October, the top teams in each pool were bracketed together to determine the pre-season competition winner. Semifinals and a consolation final and final were played to decide positions 1 to 4. The second-ranked teams in each pool played off for positions 5 to 8, the third-ranked teams played off for positions 9 to 12, and the bottom teams from each pool played off for positions 13 to 16.

Regular seasonFor the Pool stage, the 16 teams were placed into 2 pools of 8 teams each and a round-robin was played within each of the pools. At the conclusion of the pool stage, the top 4 sides in each pool advanced to the title play-offs to determine the Top League champion and the final classification positions 1 to 8. Similarly, the bottom 4 sides in each pool went on to the lower bracket play-offs to determine the final classification positions 9 to 16.

Preseason

Standings

Preseason play-offs

Second bracket

Notes:
Panasonic forfeited their semifinal. NTT Docomo gained the walk over.
Panasonic forfeited the 7th place final. Kintetsu gained the walk over.

First bracket

Regular season

Standings

Top League - Pool Stage
Pool A
ClubPlayedWonDrawnLostPoints ForPoints AgainstPoints DifferenceTry BonusLosing BonusPoints<-- Team P W D L PF PA PD TBLBPts-->
1 Yamaha Júbilo 7 6 0 1 226 140 +86 5 0 29
2 Kobelco Steelers 7 5 0 2 235 137 +98 5 2 27
3 Toyota Verblitz 7 5 0 2 203 125 +78 5 1 26
4 Canon Eagles 7 5 0 2 196 142 +54 4 1 25
5 7 3 0 4 175 212 -37 1 0 13
6 7 2 1 4 141 197 -56 1 1 12
7 NEC Green Rockets 7 1 1 5 100 202 -102 0 1 7
8 7 0 0 7 143 264 -121 1 2 3
Updated: 27 December 2015
Source: rugbyarchive.net
Teams 1 to 4 (Green background) advance to the title play-offs.
Teams 5 to 8 (Blue background) go on to the lower bracket play-offs.
Pool B
ClubPlayedWonDrawnLostPoints ForPoints AgainstPoints DifferenceTry BonusLosing BonusPoints<-- Team P W D L PF PA PD TBLBPts-->
1 7 6 1 0 290 137 +153 5 0 31
2 7 5 1 1 253 100 +153 4 0 26
3 Kintetsu Liners 7 5 0 2 189 193 -4 3 0 23
4 NTT Com Shining Arcs 7 4 0 3 190 142 +48 4 2 22
5 7 4 0 3 227 148 +79 4 1 21
6 Kubota Spears 7 2 0 5 118 240 -122 1 1 10
7 Honda Heat 7 1 0 6 99 253 -154 0 1 5
8 Ricoh Black Rams 7 0 0 7 129 282 -153 1 1 2
Updated: 27 December 2015
Source: rugbyarchive.net
Teams 1 to 4 (Green background) advance to the title play-offs.
Teams 5 to 8 (Blue background) go on to the lower bracket play-offs.
Source: rugbyarchive.net

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

Pool stage

Round 1

---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Round 2

---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Round 3

---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Round 4

---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Round 5

---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Round 6

---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Round 7

---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Lower bracket play-offs

Lower quarterfinals

---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Play-offs 9th–12th and 13th–16th

---- ---- -------- ----

Classification finals

---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Title play-offs

Quarterfinals

---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Semifinals and play-offs 5th–8th

---- -------- --------

Classification finals

---- ---- ---- ----

Final

All-Japan qualification

The 2016 All-Japan Rugby Football Championship took place as a one-off final match played between the respective winners of the Japanese Top League competition and the All-Japan University Rugby Championship. The match will be played at the Chichibunomiya Stadium in Tokyo on 31 January 2016.

The abbreviated format was chosen due to the busy schedule for Japanese Rugby which included the 2015 Rugby World Cup as well as Asian qualification for the 2016 Olympics and the introduction of a Japanese Super Rugby team.

Top League Challenge Series

See main article: 2015–16 Top League Challenge Series.

Kyuden Voltex, Mitsubishi Sagamihara DynaBoars, Munakata Sanix Blues and Osaka Police progressed to the promotion play-offs.

End-of-season awards

Team of the season

WinnerTeam
1 Panasonic Wild Knights
2 Panasonic Wild Knights
3 Toshiba Brave Lupus
4 Kobelco Steelers
5 Panasonic Wild Knights
6 Canon Eagles
7 NTT Com Shining Arcs
8 NTT Com Shining Arcs
9 Panasonic Wild Knights
10 Panasonic Wild Knights
11 Suntory Sungoliath
12 Toshiba Brave Lupus
13 Panasonic Wild Knights
14 Panasonic Wild Knights
15 Yamaha Júbilo

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 14 February 2015 . Top League trio retain status . jrfu.org . 1 July 2015 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150708045751/http://jrfu.org/jrfu/index.php/component/k2/item/300-top-league-trio-retain-status . 8 July 2015 .

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "2015–16 Top League".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.