2005–06 Top League

2005–06 Top League
Countries	Japan
Date	October 2005 – February 2006
Champions	Toshiba Brave Lupus
Runners-up	Sanyo Wild Knights
← 2004–05 2006–07 →

The 2005–06 Top League was the third season of Japan's domestic rugby union competition, the Top League.

Toshiba Brave Lupus won both the league round-robin and the Microsoft Cup knockout competitions.

Teams

Team	Region
Fukuoka Sanix Blues	Fukuoka, Kyushu
Kobe Steel Kobelco Steelers	Hyogo, Kansai
Kubota Spears	Chiba, Kanto
NEC Green Rockets	Chiba, Kanto
Ricoh Black Rams	Tokyo, Kanto
Sanyo Wild Knights	Gunma, Kanto
Secom Rugguts	Sayama, Saitama
Suntory Sungoliath	Tokyo, Kanto
Toshiba Brave Lupus	Tokyo, Kanto
Toyota Verblitz	Aichi, Tokai
World Fighting Bull	Kobe, Kansai
Yamaha Jubilo	Shizuoka, Tokai

Top League season

Final standings

	Club	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points For	Points Against	Points Difference	Try Bonus	Losing Bonus	Points
Top League Table
1	Toshiba Brave Lupus	11	9	0	2	406	193	213	10	0	46
2	Sanyo Wild Knights	11	9	0	2	416	276	140	6	0	42
3	NEC Green Rockets	11	9	0	2	270	136	134	4	1	41
4	Toyota Verblitz	11	7	0	4	431	263	168	6	3	37
5	Kobe Steelers	11	7	0	4	284	225	59	4	1	33
6	Suntory Sungoliath	11	6	0	5	308	241	67	6	2	32
7	Yamaha Jubilo	11	5	0	6	328	211	117	4	4	28
8	Kubota Spears	11	4	1	6	324	297	27	5	0	23
9	World Fighting Bull	11	5	1	5	166	200	-34	0	1	23
10	Secom Rugguts	11	2	0	9	260	481	-221	6	1	15
11	Ricoh Black Rams	11	2	0	9	137	398	-261	2	0	10
12	Fukuoka Sanix Blues	11	0	0	11	134	543	-409	1	1	2
• The top 8 teams qualified for the Microsoft Cup play-offs. • The top 4 teams also qualified for entry into the All-Japan Rugby Football Championship. • The bottom 4 teams went through to the promotion and relegation play-offs against regional challengers.
Source:The Rugby Archive^[1] 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

Microsoft Cup play-offs

The top eight teams in the league played off for the Microsoft Cup (2006) knock out tournament, which was won by Toshiba Brave Lupus.

Quarter-finals

	22 January 2006	Suntory Sungoliath	35 - 17	Yamaha Jubilo
	14:00

	22 January 2006	Kubota Spears	40 - 24	Sanyo Wild Knights
	14:00

	22 January 2006	Toshiba Brave Lupus	38 - 7	Kobe Kobelco Steelers
	14:00

	22 January 2006	Toyota Verblitz	12 - 17	NEC Green Rockets
	14:00

Semi-finals

	29 January 2006	Toshiba Brave Lupus	23 - 10	NEC Green Rockets
	14:00

	29 January 2006	Suntory Sungoliath	44 - 25	Kubota Spears
	14:00

Final

	5 February 2006	Toshiba Brave Lupus	33 - 18	Suntory Sungoliath
	14:00

Challenge series

For the following season in 2006–07, the Top League was expanded to 14 teams with two teams to be automatically promoted from the regional leagues.

Challenge 1

The top-placed regional teams from East Japan, West Japan and Kyushu played each other in Challenge 1. The top two were automatically promoted. The third-placed team played the 12th placed Top League team, with the winner of that game taking a Top League place.^[2]

		Coca-Cola West Red Sparks	21 - 17	IBM Big Blue
	14:00

		IBM Big Blue	39 - 0	Kintetsu Liners
	14:00

		Kintetsu Liners	12 - 15	Coca-Cola West Red Sparks
	14:00

Final order: 1st-Coca Cola West Red Sparks, 2nd-IBM, 3rd-Kintetsu.

So Coca-Cola West Red Sparks and IBM Big Blue were promoted to the Top League for 2006–07.

Challenge 2

The second-placed regional teams played each other in Challenge 2 for the right to play the 9th through 11th placed Top League teams, with the winner of each promotion/relegation match taking a Top League place.

		Honda Heat	39 - 26	Kyuden Voltex
	14:00

		Kyuden Voltex	31 - 15	NTT Shining Arcs
	14:00

		NTT Shining Arcs	31 - 64	Honda Heat
	14:00

Final order: 1st-Honda, 2nd-Kyuden, 3rd-NTT.

Promotion and relegation play-offs

Four promotion/relegation matches (Irekaesen) were played with the winner of each qualifying for the 2006–07 Top League. The 9th, 10th, and 11th placed team from the Top League played against the 3rd, 2nd, and 1st placed teams, respectively, from Challenge 2. The 12th placed team from the Top League played against the 3rd placed team from Challenge 1.

	11 February 2006	Fukuoka Sanix Blues	46 - 29	Kintetsu Liners
	14:00

	11 February 2006	Ricoh Black Rams	34 - 20	Honda Heat
	14:00

	11 February 2006	Secom Rugguts	31 - 20	Kyuden Voltex
	14:00

	11 February 2006	World Fighting Bull	50 - 8	NTT Shining Arcs
	14:00

So Fukuoka, Ricoh, Secom, and World all remained in the Top League for 2006–07.

References

↑ "2005/06 Top League". The Rugby Archive.
↑ "Japan - Top League Challenge 2005/06". rugbyarchive.net. Retrieved 21 November 2013.

Top League

2015–16 Teams	Canon Eagles Coca-Cola Red Sparks Kobelco Steelers NEC Green Rockets NTT Docomo Red Hurricanes Toyota Industries Shuttles Toyota Verblitz Yamaha Jubilo Honda Heat Kintetsu Liners Kubota Spears NTT Shining Arcs Panasonic Wild Knights Ricoh Black Rams Suntory Sungoliath Toshiba Brave Lupus

Former Teams	Fukuoka Sanix Blues IBM Big Blue Kyuden Voltex Mitsubishi Dynaboars Secom Rugguts World Fighting Bull Yokogawa Musashino Atlastars

Seasons	2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16

Champions JRFU

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