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2010–11 Top League

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2010–11 Top League
Kicker Masakazu Irie of Sanyo, the 2010–11 winners.
CountriesJapan Japan
Date3 September 2010 – 10 January 2011
ChampionsSanyo Wild Knights (1st title)
Runners-upSuntory Sungoliath

The 2010–11 Top League was the eighth season of Japan's domestic rugby union competition, the Top League. The Sanyo Wild Knights defeated Suntory Sungoliath 28-23 in the final of the Microsoft Cup to claim thei first Top League title.

The Top League is a semi-professional competition which is at the top of the national league system in Japan, with promotion and relegation between the next level down.

Changes

Teams

Team Region Season
Coca-Cola West Red Sparks Fukuoka, Kyushu 5
Fukuoka Sanix Blues Fukuoka, Kyushu 7
Kintetsu Liners Osaka, Kansai 5
Kobe Steel Kobelco Steelers Hyogo, Kansai 8
Kubota Spears Chiba, Kanto 8
NEC Green Rockets Chiba, Kanto 8
NTT Shining Arcs Chiba, Chiba 1
Ricoh Black Rams Tokyo, Kanto 7
Sanyo Wild Knights Gunma, Kanto 8
Suntory Sungoliath Tokyo, Kanto 8
Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo, Kanto 8
Toyota Verblitz Aichi, Tokai 7
Toyota Industries Shuttles Aichi, Mizuho 1
Yamaha Jubilo Shizuoka, Tokai 8

Regular season

Final standings

Top League Table
Club Played Won Drawn Lost Points For Points Against Points Difference Try Bonus Losing Bonus Points
1 Toshiba Brave Lupus 13 11 0 2 483 210 +273 57
2 Sanyo Wild Knights 13 11 0 2 545 163 +382 55
3 Toyota Verblitz 13 11 0 2 446 261 +185 55
4 Suntory Sungoliath 13 10 0 3 395 279 +22 36
5 Kobe Steelers 13 7 0 6 395 279 +116 36
6 NEC Green Rockets 13 7 0 6 276 332 −37 34
7 Ricoh Black Rams 13 6 0 7 364 389 −25 32
8 Fukuoka Sanix Blues 13 5 1 7 357 472 −115 32
9 Kintetsu Liners 13 6 0 7 277 344 −67 31
10 Coca-Cola West Red Sparks 13 5 0 8 250 438 −188 28
11 Yamaha Jubilo 13 5 0 8 327 504 −177 27
12 NTT Shining Arcs 13 4 0 9 271 343 −72 24
13 Kubota Spears 13 1 1 11 224 443 −219 11
14 Toyota Industries Shuttles 13 1 0 12 229 558 −329 11

 • The top 4 teams qualified to the title play-offs.
 • The top 4 teams also qualified for entry into the All-Japan Rugby Football Championship.
 • Teams 5 to 10 qualified to the wildcard play-offs for entry into the All-Japan Rugby Football Championship.
 • Teams 11 and 12 went through to the promotion and relegation play-offs against regional challengers.
 • Teams 13 and 14 were automatically relegated to the regional leagues for 2011–12.

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

Fixtures and results

Round 1


Sep 03 (Fri) Toshiba Brave Lupus 7-12 Sanyo Wild Knights Prince Chichibu, Tokyo  
19:30

Sep 04 (Sat) Toyota Industries Shuttles 17-16 NTT Shining Arcs Toyota Stadium, Aichi  
17:00

Sep 04 (Sat) Kintetsu Liners 30-14 Ricoh Black Rams Nagai 2nd, Osaka  
17:00

Sep 04 (Sat) Yamaha Jubilo 29-14 NEC Green Rockets Yamaha, Shizuoka  
18:00

Sep 04 (Sat) Toyota Verblitz 18-10 Suntory Sungoliath Toyota Stadium, Aichi  
18:00

Sep 04 (Sat) Kobe Steel Kobelco Steelers 34-3 Kubota Spears Nagai 2nd, Osaka  
19:00

Sep 04 (Sat) Coca-Cola West Red Sparks 17-22 Fukuoka Sanix Blues Level-5 Stadium, Fukuoka  
19:00

Round 2


Sep 10 (Fri) Ricoh Black Rams 20-26 Suntory Sungoliath Prince Chichibu, Tokyo  
19:30

Sep 11 (Sat) Kubota Spears 3-15 NEC Green Rockets Prince Chichibu, Tokyo  
17:00

Sep 11 (Sat) Toshiba Brave Lupus 33-28 NTT Shining Arcs Prince Chichibu, Tokyo  
19:00

Sep 11 (Sat) Yamaha Jubilo 30-10 Kintetsu Liners Suzuka Sports, Mie  
19:00

Sep 11 (Sat) Toyota Verblitz 50-5 Coca-Cola West Red Sparks Hanazono Stadium, Osaka  
19:00

Sep 12 (Sun) Sanyo Wild Knights 54-0 Toyota Industries Shuttles Ashikaga Sports, Tochigi  
15:00

Sep 12 (Sun) Kobe Steel Kobelco Steelers 19-27 Fukuoka Sanix Blues Toyama  
15:00

Round 3


Sep 17 (Fri) NTT Shining Arcs 26-14 Kubota Spears Prince Chichibu, Tokyo  
19:30

Sep 18 (Sat) Ricoh Black Rams 35-29 Fukuoka Sanix Blues Prince Chichibu, Tokyo  
17:00

Sep 18 (Sat) Toyota Industries Shuttles 7-40 Toshiba Brave Lupus Mizuho Stadium, Aichi  
17:00

Sep 18 (Sat) Coca-Cola West Red Sparks 20-15 Kintetsu Liners Level-5 Stadium, Fukuoka  
18:00

Sep 18 (Sat) Sanyo Wild Knights 49-10 Yamaha Jubilo Prince Chichibu, Tokyo  
19:00

Sep 18 (Sat) Toyota Verblitz 16-7 Kobe Steel Kobelco Steelers Mizuho Stadium, Aichi  
19:00

Sep 19 (Sun) Suntory Sungoliath 20-25 NEC Green Rockets Tsukisamu Stadium, Sapporo  
13:00

Round 4


Oct 01 (Fri) NEC Green Rockets 3-47 Toshiba Brave Lupus Prince Chichibu, Tokyo  
19:30

Oct 02 (Sat) Ricoh Black Rams 29-27 Coca-Cola West Red Sparks Prince Chichibu, Tokyo  
12:00

Oct 02 (Sat) Yamaha Jubilo 26-50 Toyota Verblitz Matsumoto, Nagano  
13:00

Oct 02 (Sat) Suntory Sungoliath 92-8 Toyota Industries Shuttles Prince Chichibu, Tokyo  
14:00

Oct 03 (Sun) NTT Shining Arcs 10-50 Sanyo Wild Knights Kumagaya Park, Saitama  
13:00

Oct 03 (Sun) Kobe Steel Kobelco Steelers 22-25 Kintetsu Liners Kobe U, Hyogo  
13:00

Oct 03 (Sun) Fukuoka Sanix Blues 36-36 Kubota Spears Honjō, Fukuoka  
13:00

Round 5


Oct 09 (Sat) NTT Shining Arcs 13-10 Toyota Verblitz Kumagaya Park, Saitama  
12:00

Oct 09 (Sat) Kobe Steel Kobelco Steelers 18-15 Coca-Cola West Red Sparks Hanazono, Osaka  
12:00

Oct 09 (Sat) Kubota Spears 8-34 Suntory Sungoliath Niigata Stadium, Niigata  
13:00

Oct 09 (Sat) NEC Green Rockets 22-17 Ricoh Black Rams Level-5 Stadium, Fukuoka  
14:00

Oct 09 (Sat) Kintetsu Liners 9-12 Sanyo Wild Knights Hanazono, Osaka  
14:00

Oct 10 (Sun) Toyota Industries Shuttles 20-35 Fukuoka Sanix Blues Toyota Stadium, Aichi  
13:00

Oct 10 (Sun) Toshiba Brave Lupus 54-20 Yamaha Jubilo Morioka Minami  
14:00

Round 6


Oct 16 (Sat) Kubota Spears 38-35 Toyota Industries Shuttles Prince Chichibu, Tokyo  
12:00

Oct 16 (Sat) Kintetsu Liners 21-19 NTT Shining Arcs Hanazono, Osaka  
12:00

Oct 16 (Sat) Ricoh Black Rams 22-31 Toshiba Brave Lupus Nippatsu, Kanagawa  
13:00

Oct 16 (Sat) NEC Green Rockets 20-52 Sanyo Wild Knights Prince Chichibu, Tokyo  
14:00

Oct 16 (Sat) Yamaha Jubilo 42-57 Kobe Steel Kobelco Steelers Hanazono, Osaka  
14:00

Oct 16 (Sat) Fukuoka Sanix Blues 33-36 Toyota Verblitz Global Arena, Fukuoka  
14:00

Oct 17 (Sun) Suntory Sungoliath 45-36 Coca-Cola West Red Sparks Kumagaya Park, Saitama  
14:00

Round 7


Oct 23 (Sat) Suntory Sungoliath 72-0 Yamaha Jubilo Prince Chichibu, Tokyo  
12:00

Oct 23 (Sat) Toyota Industries Shuttles 13-46 Ricoh Black Rams Hanazono, Osaka  
12:00

Oct 23 (Sat) Sanyo Wild Knights 65-21 Fukuoka Sanix Blues Ota City Stadium, Gunma  
13:00

Oct 23 (Sat) Toshiba Brave Lupus 33-19 Kubota Spears Prince Chichibu, Tokyo  
14:00

Oct 23 (Sat) Kintetsu Liners 21-17 Toyota Verblitz Hanazono, Osaka  
14:00

Oct 24 (Sun) NTT Shining Arcs 14-30 Kobe Steel Kobelco Steelers Yurtec, Miyagi  
14:00

Oct 24 (Sun) Coca-Cola West Red Sparks 3-28 NEC Green Rockets Coca-Cola West, Hiroshima  
14:00

Round 8


Nov 27 (Sat) Ricoh Black Rams 26-29 Toyota Verblitz Prince Chichibu, Tokyo  
12:00

Nov 27 (Sat) Yamaha Jubilo 31-30 Fukuoka Sanix Blues Hanazono, Osaka  
12:00

Nov 27 (Sat) Sanyo Wild Knights 44-6 Kubota Spears Ota City Stadium, Gunma  
13:00

Nov 27 (Sat) Suntory Sungoliath 50-14 NTT Shining Arcs Prince Chichibu, Tokyo  
14:00

Nov 27 (Sat) Kintetsu Liners 25-18 Toyota Industries Shuttles Hanazono, Osaka  
14:00

Nov 28 (Sun) NEC Green Rockets 6-38 Kobe Steel Kobelco Steelers Fukuda Denshi Arena, Chiba  
13:00

Nov 28 (Sun) Coca-Cola West Red Sparks 22-82 Toshiba Brave Lupus Kamoike Stadium, Kagoshima  
14:00

Round 9


Dec 04 (Sat) Toyota Industries Shuttles 17-29 NEC Green Rockets Mizuho Stadium, Aichi  
12:00

Dec 04 (Sat) Toyota Verblitz 34-28 Toshiba Brave Lupus Mizuho Stadium, Aichi  
14:00

Dec 05 (Sun) Kubota Spears 20-22 Yamaha Jubilo Nishikyogoku, Kyoto  
12:00

Dec 05 (Sun) Ricoh Black Rams 24-31 Kobe Steel Kobelco Steelers Kochi Haruno, Kochi  
13:00

Dec 05 (Sun) Coca-Cola West Red Sparks 0-62 Sanyo Wild Knights KKWing Stadium, Kumamoto  
13:00

Dec 05 (Sun) Fukuoka Sanix Blues 41-38 NTT Shining Arcs Global Arena, Fukuoka  
13:00

Dec 05 (Sun) Suntory Sungoliath 57-13 Kintetsu Liners Nishikyogoku, Kyoto  
14:00

Round 10


Dec 11 (Sat) Toshiba Brave Lupus 21-12 Kobe Steel Kobelco Steelers Prince Chichibu, Tokyo  
12:00

Dec 11 (Sat) NEC Green Rockets 19-24 NTT Shining Arcs Fukuda Denshi Arena, Chiba  
13:00

Dec 11 (Sat) Toyota Verblitz 57-28 Toyota Industries Shuttles Toyota Stadium, Aichi  
13:00

Dec 11 (Sat) Kubota Spears 11-33 Ricoh Black Rams Chuo Bank Stadium, Yamanashi  
13:00

Dec 11 (Sat) Sanyo Wild Knights 15-17 Suntory Sungoliath Prince Chichibu, Tokyo  
14:00

Dec 12 (Sun) Fukuoka Sanix Blues 35-31 Kintetsu Liners Pocari Sweat, Tokushima  
13:00

Dec 12 (Sun) Coca-Cola West Red Sparks 27-26 Yamaha Jubilo Best Amenity Stadium, Saga  
13:00

Round 11


Dec 18 (Sat) Kubota Spears 21-28 Coca-Cola West Red Sparks Hanazono, Osaka  
12:00

Dec 18 (Sat) Yamaha Jubilo 34-33 Toyota Industries Shuttles Yamaha, Shizuoka  
13:00

Dec 18 (Sat) Toyota Verblitz 54-17 NEC Green Rockets Ojiyama, Shiga  
13:00

Dec 18 (Sat) Kintetsu Liners 7-50 Toshiba Brave Lupus Hanazono, Osaka  
14:00

Dec 19 (Sun) NTT Shining Arcs 19-29 Ricoh Black Rams K's Denki, Ibaraki  
13:00

Dec 19 (Sun) Kobe Steel Kobelco Steelers 24-35 Sanyo Wild Knights Home's Hyogo-ku, Kobe  
13:00

Dec 19 (Sun) Fukuoka Sanix Blues 26-66 Suntory Sungoliath Comprehensive Park, Okinawa  
13:00

Round 12


Dec 25 (Sat) NTT Shining Arcs 36-10 Yamaha Jubilo Prince Chichibu, Tokyo  
12:00

Dec 25 (Sat) Toyota Industries Shuttles 26-31 Coca-Cola West Red Sparks Mizuho Stadium, Aichi  
12:00

Dec 25 (Sat) Kobe Steel Kobelco Steelers 42-44 Suntory Sungoliath Home's Hyogo-ku, Kobe  
13:00

Dec 25 (Sat) NEC Green Rockets 31-20 Kintetsu Liners Prince Chichibu, Tokyo  
14:00

Dec 25 (Sat) Toyota Verblitz 53-26 Kubota Spears Mizuho Stadium, Aichi  
14:00

Dec 25 (Sat) Fukuoka Sanix Blues 14-31 Toshiba Brave Lupus Level-5 Stadium, Fukuoka  
14:00

Dec 26 (Sun) Sanyo Wild Knights 74-14 Ricoh Black Rams Ota City Stadium, Gunma  
13:00

Round 13


Jan 09 (Sun) Kobe Steel Kobelco Steelers 61-7 Toyota Industries Shuttles Home's Hyogo-ku, Kobe  
14:00

Jan 10 (Mon) Sanyo Wild Knights 21-22 Toyota Verblitz Prince Chichibu, Tokyo  
12:00

Jan 10 (Mon) Yamaha Jubilo 47-52 Ricoh Black Rams Hanazono, Osaka  
12:00

Jan 10 (Mon) Coca-Cola West Red Sparks 19-14 NTT Shining Arcs Level-5 Stadium, Fukuoka  
12:00

Jan 10 (Mon) Toshiba Brave Lupus 26-10 Suntory Sungoliath Prince Chichibu, Tokyo  
14:00

Jan 10 (Mon) Kintetsu Liners 50-19 Kubota Spears Hanazono, Osaka  
14:00

Jan 10 (Mon) Fukuoka Sanix Blues 8-47 NEC Green Rockets Level-5 Stadium, Fukuoka  
14:00

Title play-offs

Top 4 sides of the regular season competed in the Microsoft Cup (2011) knock out tournament to fight for the Top League title. The top 4 teams of 2008–09 were Toshiba Brave Lupus, Sanyo Wild Knights, Toyota Verblitz and Suntory Sungoliath.

Semi-finals


22 January 2011 Toshiba Brave Lupus 12 - 17 Suntory Sungoliath  
14:00

22 January 2011 Toyota Verblitz 10 - 32 Sanyo Wild Knights  
14:00

Final


30 January 2011 Suntory Sungoliath 23 - 28 Sanyo Wild Knights  
14:00

Wildcard play-offs

The two second round winners qualified for the All-Japan Rugby Football Championship.

First round

The Top League teams ranked 7th and 10th played-off for the right to meet the Top League team ranked 5th in the second round. The Top League teams ranked 8th and 9th played-off for the right to meet the Top League team ranked 6th in the second round.


So Sanix and Ricoh progressed to the second round.

Second round

The Top League team ranked 5th played-off against the winner of the teams ranked 7th and 10th, and the Top League team ranked 6th played-off against the winner of the teams ranked 8th and 9th. The two winning second round teams advanced to the All-Japan Rugby Football Championship.


So Kobelco and NEC advanced to the All-Japan Rugby Football Championship.

Challenge series

Challenge 2

The second-placed regional teams East Japan, West Japan, and Kyushu played each other in a round-robin tournament for the right to join Challenge 1.

Honda Heat, Tokyo Gas Rugby Club, and Mazda Blue Zoomers competed in Challenge 2.[2]


Final order: 1st-Honda, 2nd-Tokyo Gas 3rd-Mazda

So Honda advanced to Challenge 1.

Challenge 1

The top-placed regional teams from East Japan, West Japan, and Kyushu were joined by the Challenge 2 winner to play each other in a round-robin tournament. The 1st and 2nd ranked teams were automatically promoted to the 2011–12 Top League, replacing the Top League teams ranked 13th and 14th that were automatically relegated. The teams ranked 3rd and 4th went through to the promotion and relegation play-offs against the Top League teams ranked 12th and 11th, respectively.

NTT Docomo Red Hurricanes, Honda Heat, Canon Eagles, and Kyuden Voltex competed in Challenge 1.[2]


Final order: 1st-NTT, 2nd-Honda, 3rd-Canon, 4th-Kyuden

So NTT and Honda Industries were promoted to the Top League for the following season. Canon and Kyuden advanced to the promotion and relegation playoffs.

Promotion and relegation play-offs

Two promotion/relegation matches (Irekaesen) were played. The Top League teams ranked 12th and 11th played-off against the Challenge 1 teams ranked 3rd and 4th respectively, for the right to be included in the Top League for the following season.


12 February 2011 NTT Shining Arcs 31 - 19 Canon Eagles  
14:00

12 February 2011 Yamaha Jubilo 12 - 10 Kyuden Voltex  
14:00

So NTT and Yamaha remained in the Top League for the following season.

Top Ten Points Scorers

End of season awards

References

  1. ^ "2010/11 Top League". The Rugby Archive.
  2. ^ a b "Japan - Top League Challenge 2010/11". rugbyarchive.net. Retrieved 21 November 2013.