2006–07 Top League

The 2006–07 Top League was the fourth season of Japan's domestic rugby union competition, the Top League. The league was expanded to from 12 to 14 teams for the 2006–07 season.

2006–07 Top League
Countries Japan
DateOctober 2006 – February 2007
ChampionsToshiba Brave Lupus

The top four teams in the league played in the Microsoft Cup which was officially integrated into the league from this season as the "Top League Play-off Tournament Microsoft Cup". The title was won by Toshiba Brave Lupus which also won the All-Japan Championship.

Teams

Coca-Cola West Red Sparks and IBM Big Blue were promoted to the league, bringing the number of teams from 12 to 14.

Team Region
Coca-Cola West Red Sparks Fukuoka, Kyushu
Fukuoka Sanix Blues Fukuoka, Kyushu
IBM Big Blue Chiba, Kanto
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

Regular season

Final standings
Top League Table
Club Played Won Drawn Lost Points For Points Against Points Difference Try Bonus Losing Bonus Points
1Toshiba Brave Lupus 13120150223426811160
2Suntory Sungoliath 13110254516138410256
3Yamaha Jubilo 131012379306735148
4Toyota Verblitz 139044482671818347
5Sanyo Wild Knights 138055253212048343
6Kobelco Steelers 13805360306548242
7NEC Green Rockets 13706281321-407338
8Kubota Spears 13526385402-175130
9Fukuoka Sanix Blues 13517281423-1424228
10Coca-Cola West Red Sparks 13409267368-1014121
11Ricoh Black Rams 13409233371-1383221
12IBM Big Blue 13229241503-2623116
13Secom Rugguts 132011255449-1943314
14World Fighting Bull 131012211481-270217

 • The top 4 teams qualified for the title play-offs.
 • The top 4 teams also qualified 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.

[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

    Title play-offs

    The top four teams in the league were Toshiba, Suntory, Yamaha, and Toyota. They played in the Microsoft Cup (2007) knock-out tournament to fight it out for the Top league title, which was officially integrated into the league from this season as the "Top League Play-off Tournament Microsoft Cup".

    The cup was won by Toshiba Brave Lupus which also won the All-Japan Championship.

    Semi-finals

    Final

    Top League Challenge Series
    Main article: 2007 Top League Challenge Series

    Kyuden Voltex and Mitsubishi Sagamihara DynaBoars won promotion to the 2007–08 Top League via the 2007 Top League Challenge Series, while Honda Heat and Kintetsu Liners progressed to the promotion play-offs.

    Promotion and relegation play-offs

    Two promotion/relegation matches (Irekaesen) were played with the winners qualifying for the 2007–08 Top League.

    The 11th placed team from the Top League played against the 1st placed team from Challenge 2. The 12th placed team from the Top League played against the 3rd placed team from Challenge 1.

    So IBM (despite only obtaining a draw against Kinetsu), and Ricoh remained in the Top League for 2007–08.

    References
    1. "2006/07 Top League". The Rugby Archive.
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