| 2021 Top League | |
| Countries: | Japan |
| Date: | 20 February 2021 – 23 May 2021 |
| Champions: | Panasonic Wild Knights (5th title) |
| Runnersup: | Suntory Sungoliath |
| Matches: | 73 |
| Attendance: | 250022 |
| Highest Attendance: | 8,747 (Suntory Sungoliath v Kubota Spears, 3 April 2021) |
| Top Point Scorer: | Beauden Barrett (168) |
| Top Try Scorer: | Malo Tuitama (14) |
| Website: | https://www.top-league.jp/ |
| Prevseason: | 2020 |
| Nextseason: | 2022 |
The 2021 Top League was the 18th season of Japan's top tier domestic rugby union competition. The original schedule was for a three stage competition that included all 16 Top League teams plus the top four sides from the Top Challenge League, in preparation for the three-tier professional league planned for 2022.[1] However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan the season was postponed and re-formatted.[2]
Under the revised format, the two leagues were played separately. The Top League sides were split into two conferences of eight teams for the first stage, followed by a 16-team knockout stage to decide the champion team.
The 16 Top League sides will be split between a red conference and a white conference. They will only play against teams from their conference.[3]
Round 1Round 2Round 3Round 4Round 5Round 6Round 7
| White Conference Standings | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | BP | Pts< | --Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | BP | Pts--> |
| 1 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 318 | 76 | 242 | 5 | 31 | ||||||||||||
| 2 | Kobelco Steelers | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 289 | 138 | 151 | 3 | 29 | |||||||||||
| 3 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 175 | 175 | 0 | 1 | 17 | ||||||||||||
| 4 | Ricoh Black Rams | 7 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 179 | 184 | -5 | 5 | 17 | |||||||||||
| 5 | Canon Eagles | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 176 | 230 | -54 | 2 | 16 | |||||||||||
| 6 | Yamaha Júbilo | 7 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 239 | 240 | -1 | 3 | 15 | |||||||||||
| 7 | Hino Red Dolphins | 7 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 90 | 238 | -148 | 1 | 7 | |||||||||||
| 8 | NEC Green Rockets | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 139 | 324 | -185 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||
Round 1Round 2Round 3Round 4Round 5Round 6Round 7
All sixteen Top League sides plus the top four finishing sides from the 2021 Top Challenge League will be included in the playoff stage. All matches of the playoff stage are knockouts with lower ranked Top League conference teams and the top four Top Challenge League teams playing in the first round to qualify to the round of sixteen.[4]
See also: All-Japan Rugby Football Championship.
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
