Top League Champions Cup Explained

Top League Champions
Sport:Rugby union football
Inaugural:2004
Country:Japan
Most Champs:Toshiba Brave Lupus &
Suntory Sungoliath (5 titles each)
Champion:Suntory Sungoliath (5th title)
(2018)
Website:www.top-league.jp

The Top League Championship is Japan's highest-level knockout tournament for rugby union clubs. Held annually, the leading teams from the Top League regular season qualify for the playoffs to decide the Cup title. From 2018 onward, the All-Japan Rugby Football Championship has doubled as the Top League Championship Cup. Previously, teams competed for the Lixil Cup, from 2014 to 2016, and Microsoft Cup (prior to 2009).

The Top League competition is a Japanese industrial league that presently consists of sixteen teams, all owned by major companies.

Initially sponsored by Microsoft Japan, the knockout tournament was first contested by the top eight teams from the Top League in 2004. It was considered a separate competition to the Top League for the first three seasons but was officially integrated for the 2006–07 season. The number of teams was also cut to four to give a format of two semi-finals and a final, and from that time onward until the 2016–17 season the winner of the knockout cup was recognised as the Top League champion.

There were no title-play-offs in 2016–17, and the team on top of the league after the round-robin stage won the Top League title.

Overall

Summary totals for all Top League championships up to and including 2018:

Notes:

1

The Panasonic Wild Knights summary includes results for the Sanyo Wild Knights from 2003 to 2012.
*NEC won the 2004 Microsoft Cup but Kobe Steel was the Top League champion. These were separate competitions prior to 2007.
^The 2004 Kobe Steel and Sanyo (Panasonic) semi-final appearances are included, although that cup was not part of the championship.
+Yamaha was 3rd and Suntory 4th in the 2003–04 Top League championship, but these results are not counted as semi-final appearances.

Tournaments

Teams listed are those that qualified from the Top League for the title play-offs in each season, or the top four teams where there were no play-offs. Results of the play-offs are written so that the score of the team in each row is mentioned first.

Legend
Cup winner
(knockout play-offs).		Pos = Log Position, P = Games Played, W = Games Won, D = Games Drawn, L = Games Lost, PF = Points For, PA = Points Against, Diff = Points Difference, TB = Try Bonus Points, LB = Losing Bonus Points, SP = Starting Points for Group Stage, Pts = Log Points, Semi = Semi-final, Refs = References
Top League title winner.
Suntory Sungoliath 12–8 Panasonic Wild Knights

Top League and All-Japan titles: 2017 onward

There were no title-play-offs in 2018, and the team on top of the league after the round-robin stage was crowned the Top League title winner. However, the top three teams progressed to the All-Japan Championship.

The All-Japan Championship doubled as the Top League Champions Cup title from 2018 onward, with university teams excluded.

Year!rowspan=2 style="padding:2px;"
TeamTop League regular seasonPlay-offs
20186 January
to
13 January<		-- Team PtsW D L PF PA PD TBLB-->1 White align=left style="padding-right:0px;"63 1300 580 142 +438 11 017–118–12[1]
1 Red 55 120 1 450 180 +270 7 049–712–8
2 White Yamaha Júbilo46 90 4 440 232 +208 8 27–49—
2 Red Toyota Verblitz46 100 3 394 288 +106 4 211–17—
201721 January
to
29 January<		-- Team PtsW D L PF PA PD TBLB-->1 align=left bgcolor="#d0ffd0" 71 150 0 563 184 +379 11 052–2915–10[2]
2 Yamaha Júbilo67 1401 580 208 +372 11 024–36—
3 Panasonic Wild Knights62 130 2 579 268 +311 9 136–2410–15
4 Kobelco Steelers48 100 5 473 328 +145 7 1——

Lixil Cup and Top League title: 2014 to 2016

From the 2013–14 season, the Top League tournament was contested by sixteen teams. The top four teams from the league competition (or the top eight in 2016) advanced to the play-offs to compete for the Lixil Trophy and Top League Championship.

Year!rowspan=2 style="padding:2px;"
TeamTop League regular seasonCup play-off results
20169 January
to
24 January<		-- TeamPtsW D L PF PA PD TB LB SP -->1A31 6 1 0 290 137 153 5 0  - 48–6 42–10 27–26[3]
1B Yamaha Jubilo296 0 1 226 140 86 5 0  - 27–6 22–34 —
2A Toshiba Brave Lupus26 5 1 1 253 100 153 4 0  - 29–17 34–22 26–27
2B Kobelco Steelers27 5 0 2 235 137 98 5 2  - 42–10 10–42 —
3A Kintetsu Liners23 5 0 2 189 193 -4 3 0  - 10–42 — —
3B Toyota Verblitz26 5 0 2 203 125 78 5 1  - 17–29 — —
4A NTT Com Shining Arcs22 4 0 3 190 142 48 4 2  - 6–27 — —
4B Canon Eagles25 5 0 2 196 142 54 4 1  - 6-48 — —
201524 January
to
1 February<		-- TeamPts W D L PF PA PD TBLBSP-->1 align=left Kobelco Steelers29 5 0 2 242 113 +129 4 1 4— 12–41 —[4]
2 Panasonic Wild Knights29 5 0 2 218 131 +87 5 0 4— 50–15 30–12
3 Toshiba Brave Lupus28 5 0 2 213 147 +66 4 1 3— 15–50 —
4 Yamaha Júbilo27 5 0 2 165 134 +31 4 1 2— 41–12 12–30
20141 February
to
9 February<		-- TeamPts W D L PF PA PD TBLBSP-->1 Panasonic Wild Knights36 7 0 0 224 105 119 4 0 4— 55–1545–22 [5]
2 Suntory Sungoliath32 6 0 1 261 169 92 4 0 4 — 27–1922–45
3 Kobelco Steelers24 4 0 3 223 194 29 5 1 2— 19–27—
4 Toshiba Brave Lupus23 4 0 3 181 151 30 2 3 2— 15–55—

Microsoft Cup and Top League title: 2007 to 2009

For the 2006–07 season the tournament was expanded to fourteen teams and the Top League and Microsoft Cup competitions were combined. Only the top four teams on the regular season table progressed to title play-offs and the winner of the knockout competition was awarded both the Microsoft Cup and the Top League title.

Video referee (TMO) decisions were introduced for the 2009 Cup series. The naming rights partnership with Microsoft for the knockout competition ended after the 2009 Cup final.

Year!rowspan=2 style="padding:2px;"
TeamTop League regular seasonPlay-off results
200917 February
to
24 February<		-- Team PtsW D L PF PA PD TBLB-->1Toshiba Brave Lupus59 1201563211+35211026–717–6 [6]
2Sanyo Wild Knights58 1201584197+38710032–226–17
3Suntory Sungoliath51 1003482298+18410122–32—
4Kobelco Steelers43 904358300+58526–27—
200817 February
to
24 February<		-- Team PtsW D L PF PA PD TBLB-->1Sanyo Wild Knights63 1300593170+42311025–2110–14[7]
2Suntory Sungoliath53 1012453229+22410133–1014–10
3Toyota Verblitz50 913452269+1839310–33—
4Toshiba Brave Lupus47 1012398263+1355221–25—
200728 January
to
4 February<		-- Team PtsW D L PF PA PD TBLB-->1Toshiba Brave Lupus60 120 1 502 234 268 11 1 38–3514–13 [8]
2Suntory Sungoliath56 110 2 545 161 384 10 240–3913–14
3Yamaha Jubilo48 101 2 379 306 73 5 139–40—
4Toyota Verblitz47 9 0 4 448 267 181 8 335–38—

Top League, separate Microsoft Cup: 2004 to 2006

For the first three seasons the competition format was a single round-robin tournament contested by twelve teams, with the team finishing top of the table winning the Top League title. The Microsoft Cup was a separate knockout competition for the top eight teams in the league.

Year!rowspan=2 style="padding:2px;"
TeamTop League regular seasonPlay-off results
200622 January
to
5 February<		-- TeamPtsW D L PF PA PD TB LB-->1Toshiba Brave Lupus46 9 0 2 406 193 213 10 038–723–1033–18 [9]
2Sanyo Wild Knights42 9 0 2 416 276 140 6 024–40——
3NEC Green Rockets41 9 0 2 270 136 134 4 117–1210–23—
4Toyota Verblitz37 7 0 4 431 263 168 6 312–17——
5Kobelco Steelers33 7 0 4 284 225 59 4 17–38——
6Suntory Sungoliath32 6 0 5 308 241 67 6 235–1744–2518–33
7Yamaha Jubilo28 5 0 6 328 211 117 4 417–35——
8Kubota Spears23 4 1 6 324 297 27 5 040–2425–44—
20058 February
to
28 February<		-- TeamPtsW D L PF PA PD TB LB-->150 100 1 463 166 297 9 133–1341–020–6[10]
2Yamaha Jubilo45 9 0 2 380 218 162 8 138–336–20
3NEC Green Rockets44 9 0 2 407 253 154 7 116–51——
4Toyota Verblitz43 8 0 3 427 224 203 9 242–2133–33—
5Kobelco Steelers34 6 0 5 326 356 -30 8 251–160–41—
6Kubota Spears27 5 0 6 277 334 -57 6 133–38——
7Sanyo Wild Knights24 4 0 7 346 296 50 4 421–41——
8Suntory Sungoliath24 4 0 7 307 282 25 4 413–33——
20048 February
to
22 February<		-- TeamPtsW D L PF PA PD TB LB-->1Kobelco Steelers47 9 0 2 439 286 153 11 035–2710–34—[11]
2Toshiba Brave Lupus44 8 1 2 503 283 220 9 139–1036–3419–24
3Yamaha Jubilo42 8 2 1 334 223 111 6 010–39——
4Suntory Sungoliath42 8 0 3 408 265 143 9 15–32——
532 6 0 5 349 285 64 7 127–35——
6NEC Green Rockets30 5 2 4 411 274 137 6 032–534–1024–19
7Sanyo Wild Knights24 4 1 6 319 331 -12 6 039–3234–36—
8Kubota Spears22 4 0 9 262 362 -100 4 232–39——

Notes:

Toshiba Brave Lupus won the Top League and Microsoft Cup double.

The number of tries and goals being equal, the result was decided in favour of Yamaha over Toyota by a lottery at Hanazono after the game.

Reigning Microsoft Cup holders the NEC Green Rockets were knocked out at the quarter-final stage.

In 2003–04, Kobe Steel won the Top League but NEC won the Microsoft Cup. The League and Cup were separate competitions prior to 2007.

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 2017/18 Top League . The Rugby Archive.
  2. Web site: 2016/17 Top League . The Rugby Archive.
  3. Web site: 2015/16 Top League . The Rugby Archive.
  4. Web site: 2014/15 Top League . The Rugby Archive.
  5. Web site: 2013/14 Top League . The Rugby Archive.
  6. Web site: 2008/09 Top League . The Rugby Archive.
  7. Web site: 2007/08 Top League . The Rugby Archive.
  8. Web site: 2006/07 Top League . The Rugby Archive.
  9. Web site: 2005/06 Top League . The Rugby Archive.
  10. Web site: 2004/05 Top League . https://archive.today/20150117173116/http://www.rugbyarchive.net/Pagine/StagioneCompetizioni.aspx?ID=96&Stagione=2004/05 . dead . 17 January 2015 . The Rugby Archive .
  11. Web site: 2003/04 Top League . The Rugby Archive .

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