Top League Champions
SportRugby union football
Inaugural season2004
CountryJapan
HoldersSuntory Sungoliath (5th title)
(2018)
Most titlesToshiba Brave Lupus &
Suntory Sungoliath (5 titles each)
Websitewww.top-league.jp
Yoshiaki Fujimori presents the 2016 Lixil Cup trophy to Panasonic captain Shota Horie.

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,[1] 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:

Team Championships Runners-up Semi-final losses Premierships
Toshiba Brave Lupus5345
Suntory Sungoliath53 2+3
Panasonic Wild Knights145 3^5
Kobelco Steelers  1*0 5^3
Yamaha Júbilo03 2+0
Kubota Spears0110
Toyota Verblitz0060
NEC Green Rockets  0*020

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.

Top League and All-Japan title (2017–present)
Year Cup period Pos Team Top League regular season Play-offs Ref
Pts W D L PF PA Diff TB LB Semi Final
2018 6 January
to
13 January 		1 WhitePanasonic Wild Knights 631300580142+438110 17–118–12 [2]
1 RedSuntory Sungoliath † 551201450180+27070 49–712–8
2 WhiteYamaha Júbilo 46904440232+20882 7–49—
2 RedToyota Verblitz 461003394288+10642 11–17—
2017 21 January
to
29 January 		1Suntory Sungoliath † 711500563184+379110 52–2915–10 [3]
2Yamaha Júbilo 671401580208+372110 24–36—
3Panasonic Wild Knights 621302579268+31191 36–2410–15
4Kobelco Steelers 481005473328+14571 ——
Logo 2014–2016

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.

Lixil Trophy and Top League Championship play-offs (2014–2016)
Year Cup period Pos Team Top League regular season Cup play-off results Ref
Pts W D L PF PA Diff TB LB SP Qtr Semi Final
2016 9 January
to
24 January 		1APanasonic Wild Knights † 3161029013715350– 48–642–1027–26 [4]
1BYamaha Jubilo 296012261408650– 27–622–34—
2AToshiba Brave Lupus 2651125310015340– 29–1734–2226–27
2BKobelco Steelers 275022351379852– 42–1010–42—
3AKintetsu Liners 23502189193-430– 10–42——
3BToyota Verblitz 265022031257851– 17–29——
4ANTT Com Shining Arcs 224031901424842– 6–27——
4BCanon Eagles 255021961425441– 6-48——
2015 24 January
to
1 February 		1Kobelco Steelers 29502242113+129414 —12–41— [5]
2Panasonic Wild Knights† 29502218131+87504 —50–1530–12
3Toshiba Brave Lupus 28502213147+66413 —15–50—
4Yamaha Júbilo 27502165134+31412 —41–1212–30
2014 1 February
to
9 February 		1Panasonic Wild Knights† 36700224105119404 —55–1545–22 [6]
2Suntory Sungoliath 3260126116992404 —27–1922–45
3Kobelco Steelers 2440322319429512 —19–27—
4Toshiba Brave Lupus 2340318115130232 —15–55—

Play-offs and Top League title: 2010 to 2013
Microsoft Cup banner 2005–2009.

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.

Top League Championship play-off tournament (2007–2013)
Year Cup period Pos Team Top League regular season Play-off results Ref
Pts W D L PF PA Diff TB LB Semi Final
2009 17 February
to
24 February 		1Toshiba Brave Lupus† 591201563211+352110 26–717–6 [7]
2Sanyo Wild Knights 581201584197+387100 32–226–17
3Suntory Sungoliath 511003482298+184101 22–32—
4Kobelco Steelers 43904358300+5852 6–27—
2008 17 February
to
24 February 		1Sanyo Wild Knights 631300593170+423110 25–2110–14 [8]
2Suntory Sungoliath† 531012453229+224101 33–1014–10
3Toyota Verblitz 50913452269+18393 10–33—
4Toshiba Brave Lupus 471012398263+13552 21–25—
2007 28 January
to
4 February 		1Toshiba Brave Lupus† 601201502234268111 38–3514–13 [9]
2Suntory Sungoliath 561102545161384102 40–3913–14
3Yamaha Jubilo 4810123793067351 39–40—
4Toyota Verblitz 4790444826718183 35–38—

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.

Microsoft Cup play-off tournament (2004–2006)
Year Cup period Pos Team Top League regular season Play-off results Ref
Pts W D L PF PA Diff TB LB Qtr Semi Final
2006 22 January
to
5 February 		1Toshiba Brave Lupus† 46902406193213100 38–723–1033–18 [10]
2Sanyo Wild Knights 4290241627614060 24–40——
3NEC Green Rockets 4190227013613441 17–1210–23—
4Toyota Verblitz 3770443126316863 12–17——
5Kobelco Steelers 337042842255941 7–38——
6Suntory Sungoliath 326053082416762 35–1744–2518–33
7Yamaha Jubilo 2850632821111744 17–35——
8Kubota Spears 234163242972750 40–2425–44—
2005 8 February
to
28 February 		1Toshiba Brave Lupus† 50100146316629791 33–1341–0 20–6α [11]
2Yamaha Jubilo 4590238021816281 38–33 33–33β 6–20α
3NEC Green Rockets 4490240725315471  16–51γ——
4Toyota Verblitz 4380342722420392 42–21 33–33β—
5Kobelco Steelers 34605326356-3082  51–16γ0–41—
6Kubota Spears 27506277334-5761 33–38——
7Sanyo Wild Knights 244073462965044 21–41——
8Suntory Sungoliath 244073072822544 13–33——
2004 8 February
to
22 February 		1Kobelco Steelersδ† 47902439286153110 35–2710–34— [12]
2Toshiba Brave Lupus 4481250328322091 39–1036–3419–24
3Yamaha Jubilo 4282133422311160 10–39——
4Suntory Sungoliath 4280340826514391 5–32——
5World Fighting Bull 326053492856471 27–35——
6NEC Green Rocketsδ 3052441127413760 32–534–1024–19
7Sanyo Wild Knights 24416319331-1260 39–3234–36—
8Kubota Spears 22409262362-10042 32–39——

Notes:

^α Toshiba Brave Lupus won the Top League and Microsoft Cup double.[13]

^β 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.

^γ Reigning Microsoft Cup holders the NEC Green Rockets were knocked out at the quarter-final stage.[14][15]

^δ 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

References

  1. ↑ "Top League to introduce new officiating system this season". The Japan Times. 21 August 2014. Archived from the original on 13 January 2015.
  2. ↑ "2017/18 Top League". The Rugby Archive.
  3. ↑ "2016/17 Top League". The Rugby Archive.
  4. ↑ "2015/16 Top League". The Rugby Archive.
  5. ↑ "2014/15 Top League". The Rugby Archive.
  6. ↑ "2013/14 Top League". The Rugby Archive.
  7. ↑ "2008/09 Top League". The Rugby Archive.
  8. ↑ "2007/08 Top League". The Rugby Archive.
  9. ↑ "2006/07 Top League". The Rugby Archive.
  10. ↑ "2005/06 Top League". The Rugby Archive.
  11. ↑ "2004/05 Top League". The Rugby Archive. Archived from the original on 17 January 2015.
  12. ↑ "2003/04 Top League". The Rugby Archive.
  13. ↑ "Steelers upset Green Rockets in Microsoft Cup quarter final". The Japan Times. 24 January 2004. Archived from the original on 1 March 2005.
  14. ↑ "Brave Lupus add name to rugby Cup". The Japan Times. 7 February 2005. Archived from the original on 1 March 2005.
  15. ↑ "Official report of the 2005 final". JRFU. Archived from the original on 5 April 2005.
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