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2009–10 Top League

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2009-10 Top League

Champions Toshiba Brave Lupus

Round-Robin
Duration: 4 September 2009 - 9 January 2010

Semifinals
Date: 24 January 2010

Toshiba Brave Lupus 35 Suntory Sungoliath 24

Sanyo Wild Knights 25 Toyota Verblitz 21

Grand Final
Date: 31 January 2010

Toshiba Brave Lupus 6 Sanyo Wild Knights 0

Seasons
2010-11 • 2009-10 • 2008-09 • 2007-08 • 2006-07

The Top League is a semi-professional rugby union competition which is played in Japan. The Top League is at the top of the national league system in Japan, with promotion and relegation between the Top League and the next level down. The 2009-10 season was the seventh season of the Top League since the first season in 2003-04.

Changes

  • Honda Heat and Ricoh Black Rams were promoted to the Top League, replacing IBM Big Blue and Yokogawa Atlastars who were relegated.
  • Last seasons rule change of allowing three overseas players on the field at any one time was altered for the 2009-10 season, one of the three overseas players must have already represented Japan, be currently eligible to represent Japan or eligible to represent Japan in the future.
  • Teams are allowed to field one player from the Asian Rugby Football Union (ARFU) outside the above restrictions on overseas players. That Asian player may have represented another country at Test, A or Sevens levels as long as that country is a Union member of the ARFU.
  • Last season the top six finishers automatically qualified for the National Championship, however this season the top four qualify, with the teams that finish 5th to 10th playing off for the remaining two Top League qualifiers.

Teams

Team Region Season
Coca Cola West Red Sparks Fukuoka, Kyushu 4
Fukuoka Sanix Blues Fukuoka, Kyushu 6
Honda Heat Suzuka, Mie 1
Kintetsu Liners Osaka, Kansai 4
Kobe Steel Kobelco Steelers Hyogo, Kansai 7
Kubota Spears Chiba, Kanto 7
Kyuden Voltex Fukuoka, Kyushu 3
NEC Green Rockets Chiba, Kanto 7
Ricoh Black Rams Tokyo, Kanto 6
Sanyo Wild Knights Gunma, Kanto 7
Suntory Sungoliath Tokyo, Kanto 7
Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo, Kanto 7
Toyota Verblitz Aichi, Tokai 6
Yamaha Jubilo Shizuoka, Tokai 7

Final standings

  • The top four teams in pool play advanced to the Microsoft Cup finals series, also qualifying them for the 2010-11 Top League.
  • Teams that finish 5th to 10th play off to determine the final 2 Top League teams.
  • Teams finishing 11th and 12th go through the promotion and relegation play-offs against regional challengers to retain their places in Top League.
  • The bottom two teams are automatically relegated to regional leagues for 2010-11.
Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts
1 Sanyo Wild Knights 13 12 1 0 534 175 +359 59
2 Suntory Sungoliath 13 11 2 0 570 195 +375 58
3 Toshiba Brave Lupus 13 10 0 3 436 276 +160 52
4 Toyota Verblitz 13 10 1 2 394 219 +175 48
5 Kobe Steelers 13 7 1 5 343 303 +40 38
6 Kubota Spears 13 6 0 7 313 339 −26 31
7 Fukuoka Sanix Blues 13 6 0 7 311 371 −60 31
8 Coca Cola Red Sparks 13 7 0 6 299 448 −149 31
9 Yamaha Jubilo 13 5 2 6 311 327 −14 30
10 NEC Green Rockets 13 4 0 9 224 280 −56 25
11 Kintetsu Liners 13 4 1 8 218 348 −130 23
12 Ricoh Black Rams 13 4 0 9 262 422 −160 19
13 Honda Heat 13 1 0 12 255 464 −209 10
14 Kyuden Voltex 13 0 0 13 199 502 −303 4

Table notes

  • Pos = Table Position
  • Pld = Played
  • W = Win (Worth 4 points)
  • D = Draw (Worth 2 points)
  • L = Loss (Worth 0 points)
  • PF = For (Total points scored)
  • PA = Against (Total points scored against)
  • PD = Points difference
  • Pts = Progressive points tally

Top Ten Points Scorers

Player Team Pts T C PG DG
1 Atsushi Tanabe Sanyo Wild Knights 191 4 48 25 0
2 Ryan Nicholas Suntory Sungoliath 173 6 46 17 0
3 Shaun Webb Coca Cola West Red Sparks 150 2 28 16 7
4 Shane Drahm Kubota Spears 135 2 28 16 7
5 David Hill Toshiba Brave Lupus 122 4 39 8 0
6 Ayumu Goromaru Yamaha Jubilo 111 0 27 19 0
7 Yoshimitsu Kawano Ricoh Black Rams 102 1 23 15 2
8 Orene Aii Toyota Verblitz 80 4 21 5 1
9 Hirotoki Onozawa Suntory Sungoliath 70 14 0 0 0
10 Tomoki Kitagawa Sanyo Wild Knights 80 4 21 5 1

Table notes

  • Pts = Points scored
  • T = Tries
  • C = Conversions
  • PG = Penalty Goals
  • DG = Drop Goals

Round 1

Home Score Away Match Information
Date Time Venue
Sanyo Wild Knights 24 - 11 Toshiba Brave Lupus 4 September 2009 19:30 Chichibu, Tokyo
Ricoh Black Rams 23 - 15 Honda Heat 5 September 2009 17:00 Chichibu, Tokyo
Coca Cola Red Sparks 19 - 12 Kintetsu Liners 5 September 2009 17:00 Level 5, Fukuoka
Toyota Verblitz 18 - 18 Yamaha Jubilo 5 September 2009 18:00 Mizuho, Nagoya
Kobe Steelers 24 - 24 Suntory Sungoliath 5 September 2009 18:00 Nagai, Osaka
NEC Green Rockets 11 - 29 Kubota Spears 5 September 2009 19:00 Chichibu, Tokyo
Fukuoka Sanix Blues 25 - 15 Kyuden Voltex 5 September 2009 19:00 Level 5, Fukuoka

Round 2

Home Score Away Match Information
Date Time Venue
NEC Green Rockets 6 - 29 Toshiba Brave Lupus 12 September 2009 17:00 Kashiwanoha, Chiba
Kintetsu Liners 31 - 3 Kyuden Voltex 12 September 2009 17:00 Nagai, Osaka
Kubota Spears 18 - 11 Honda Heat 12 September 2009 18:00 Chichibu, Tokyo
Honda Heat 19 - 45 Toyota Verblitz 12 September 2009 18:00 Suzuka, Mie
Coca Cola Red Sparks 13 - 46 Suntory Sungoliath 12 September 2009 18:00 Nagasaki
Kobe Steelers 12 - 9 Fukuoka Sanix Blues 12 September 2009 19:00 Nagai, Osaka
Ricoh Black Rams 22 - 44 Sanyo Wild Knights 13 September 2009 15:00 Yamagata
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