2020 Top League Explained

2020 Top League
Countries:	Japan
Date:	12 January 2020 – 23 February 2020
Matches:	48
Attendance:	541078
Highest Attendance:	37,050 Toyota Verblitz v Panasonic Wild Knights 18 January 2020
Lowest Attendance:	2,610 Kubota Spears v Hino Red Dolphins 16 February 2020
Website:	https://www.top-league.jp/
Prevseason:	2018–19
Nextseason:	2021

The 2020 Top League was the 17th season of Japan's top tier domestic rugby union competition. The season was initially suspended after round six and then further cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan.^[1]

Teams

Club	Region	Previous season
Canon Eagles	Machida, Tokyo	12th
Hino Red Dolphins	Hino, Tokyo	14th
Honda Heat	Suzuka, Mie	9th
Kobelco Steelers	Kobe	1st
Kubota Spears	Abiko, Chiba	7th
Mitsubishi Sagamihara Dynaboars	Sagamihara	Promoted from 2018 Top Challenge League
Munakata Sanix Blues	Munakata, Fukuoka	13th
NEC Green Rockets	Abiko, Chiba	10th
NTT Communications Shining Arcs	Chiba Prefecture	5th
NTT DoCoMo Red Hurricanes	Osaka	Promoted from 2018 Top Challenge League
Panasonic Wild Knights	Ōta, Gunma	6th
Ricoh Black Rams	Setagaya	8th
Suntory Sungoliath	Fuchū, Tokyo	2nd
Toshiba Brave Lupus	Fuchū, Tokyo	11th
Toyota Verblitz	Toyota City	4th
Yamaha Jubilo	Iwata, Shizuoka	3rd

Standings

2020 Top League Standings
Pos	Team	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TB	LB	Pts<	--Pos	Team	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TB	LB	Pts-->
1		6	6	0	0	273	88	+185	6	0	30
2	Kobelco Steelers	6	6	0	0	318	75	+243	4	0	28
3	Yamaha Jubilo	6	5	0	1	292	98	+194	4	0	26
4	Suntory Sungoliath	6	4	0	2	239	113	+126	3	2	19
5		6	4	0	2	187	111	+76	2	1	19
6	Kubota Spears	6	4	0	2	163	114	+49	2	1	19
7	Toshiba Brave Lupus	6	4	0	2	169	192	−23	2	1	18
8	Toyota Verblitz	6	3	0	3	202	209	−7	2	1	15
9	Canon Eagles	6	3	0	3	140	177	−37	1	0	13
10	Honda Heat	6	2	0	4	153	156	−3	1	2	11
11	Munakata Sanix Blues	6	2	0	4	110	185	−75	1	1	10
12	Ricoh Black Rams	6	2	0	4	72	170	−98	0	0	8
13		6	1	0	5	103	244	−141	0	1	4
14	Hino Red Dolphins	6	1	0	5	123	273	−150	0	0	4
15		6	1	0	5	81	331	−250	0	0	4
16	NEC Green Rockets	6	0	0	6	87	176	−89	0	2	2
Legend: P = Games played, W = Games won, D = Games drawn, L = Games lost, PF = Points for, PA = Points against, PD = Points difference, TB = Try bonus points, LB = Losing bonus points, Pts = Log points. The top eight teams qualified for the finals.

Fixtures & Results

Round 6

Notes and References

1. Web site: Japan cancels entire Top League season due to COVID-19 . Rugby Pass . https://web.archive.org/web/20200324150140/https://www.rugbypass.com/news/japan-cancels-entire-top-league-season-due-to-covid-19/ . 24 March 2020 . 23 March 2020.