2007-08 Top League

The Top League is a semi-professional league at the top of Japanese domestic rugby union, now played between 14 teams like the Super 14 and the Top 14. For the first time from this, the fifth season, timekeepers were introduced. Foreign referees such as George Ayoub who was voted "Best Whistle" at the end of the season refereed some of the games, which were played throughout Japan as a deliberate policy to encourage interest in the game nationwide. Also the first game was played under the new lights at Chichibunomiya. This season's catch phrase is "For All".

The Microsoft Cup, now called the "Top League Play-off Tournament Microsoft Cup" has been integrated into the Top League since the 2006-07 season. The league champion is the winner of the Microsoft Cup.

On February 3, 2008 there was snow in Tokyo which prevented the last two games at Chichibunomiya being played on that day. This was the first time in five seasons that bad weather had caused a Top League game to be postponed. The games were postponed to Saturday, February 9th at the same ground.

Final Results

Champion: Suntory Sungoliath beat Sanyo Wild Knights 14-10 in the Microsoft Cup final on February 24, 2008 at Chichibunomiya. (Note: Sanyo Wild Knights became the first ever team in the Top League to win all their league games.)

Team Awards

Winner: Suntory Sungoliath
2nd: Sanyo Wild Knights
3rd: Toshiba Brave Lupus
Fair Play: Kyuden Voltex
Best Fan Service: Kobe Kobelco Steelers

Best Fifteen

1 Prop Tatsukichi Nishiura (Coca Cola West Red Sparks)
2 Hooker Mitsugu Yamamoto (Sanyo Wild Knights)
3 Prop Tomokazu Soma (Sanyo Wild Knights)
4 Lock Hitoshi Ono (Toshiba Brave Lupus)
5 Lock Tomoaki Taniguchi (Toyota Verblitz)
6 Flanker Semisi Saukawa (NEC Green Rockets)
7 Flanker Philip O'Reilly (Sanyo Wild Knights)
8 No. 8 Ryu Koliniasi Holani (Sanyo Wild Knights)
9 Scrum Half Fumiaki Tanaka (Sanyo Wild Knights)
10 Stand Off Tony Brown (Sanyo Wild Knights)
11 Wing Hirotoki Onozawa (Suntory Sungoliath)
12 Centre Shotaro Onishi (Yamaha Jubilo)
13 Centre Seiichi Shimomura (Sanyo Wild Knights)
14 Wing Tomoki Kitagawa (Sanyo Wild Knights)
15 Full Back Atsushi Tanabe (Sanyo Wild Knights)

Top League MVP: Hirotoki Onozawa (Suntory Sungoliath)
Microsoft Cup Final MVP: Hirotoki Onozawa (Suntory Sungoliath)
Top League Rookie Award: Fumiaki Tanaka (Sanyo Wild Knights)
Top League Top Try Scorer: Tomoki Kitagawa (Sanyo Wild Knights)
Top League Top Points Scorer: Shotaro Onishi (Yamaha Jubilo)
Top League Best Kicker: Shotaro Onishi (Yamaha Jubilo)
Top League Special Award: Masato Toyoda (Toyota Verblitz)
Top League Best Whistle: George Ayoub (Australian Rugby Union)

See [http://www.rugbyjapan.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=318&Itemid=36 Top League awards] for further details.

Other details

Top Try scorers: Tomoki Kitagawa (Sanyo) 14; Hirotoki Onozawa (Suntory) 13; Keita Katsumata (IBM) 10; Jaco van der Westhuyzen (NEC) 9; Ryu Koliniasi Holani (Sanyo) 9

Top Points scorers: Shotaro Onishi (Yamaha) 139; Hiroki Yoshida (Toshiba) 138; Tony Brown (Sanyo) 137; Hiroki Mizuno (Toyota) 100; Takeshi Matsuo (NEC) 96

Relegated Teams: Mitsubishi Dynaboars, Ricoh Black Rams

Promoted Teams: Kintetsu Liners, Yokogawa Denki

Final Table

Rules

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).

The top four finishers qualify for the Microsoft Cup, the finals series of the Top League. In addition, the top four finishers qualify for the All-Japan Championship.

The bottom two finishers are automatically relegated.

The teams that finish 11th and 12th go through promotion and relegation play-offs against regional challengers (see below).

Participating Teams

There were 14 teams in the League, given in alphabetical order with their geographical location by prefecture, as follows:

* Coca Cola West Red Sparks (Fukuoka, Kyushu)
* Fukuoka Sanix Blues (Fukuoka, Kyushu)
* IBM Big Blue (Chiba, Kanto)
* Kobe Steel Kobelco Steelers (Hyogo, Kansai)
* Kubota Spears (Chiba, Kanto)
* Kyuden Voltex (Fukuoka, Kyushu)
* Mitsubishi Dynaboars (Kanagawa, Kanto)
* NEC Green Rockets (Chiba, Kanto)
* Ricoh Black Rams (Tokyo, Kanto)
* Sanyo Wild Knights (Gunma, Kanto)
* Suntory Sungoliath (Tokyo, Kanto)
* Toshiba Brave Lupus (Tokyo, Kanto)
* Toyota Verblitz (Aichi, Tokai)
* Yamaha Jubilo (Shizuoka, Tokai)

League Games

(including kick-off times according to the local Japan Standard Time)

1st round

The first round began on Friday October 26, 2007 with
Toshiba Brave Lupus playing Suntory Sungoliath under lights at Chichibunomiya in a repeat of the previous year's final. But this time Suntory gained revenge with a 10-3 win, the first one for Suntory after a string of seven successive losses stretching back to 2003.

Oct 26 (Fri):
19.30 Toshiba Brave Lupus 3 Suntory Sungoliath 10 (Chichibunomiya, Tokyo);

Oct 27 (Sat):
13.00 Sanyo Wild Knights 19 Kubota Spears 6 (Ota city sports and athletics stadium, Gunma prefecture);
14.00 Yamaha Jubilo 26 Toyota Verblitz 20 (Yamaha Stadium, Shizuoka prefecture);
19.00 Ricoh Black Rams 9 IBM Big Blue 3 (Chichibunomiya, Tokyo);

Oct 28 (Sun):
12.00 Kyuden Voltex 37 Mitsubishi Dynaboars 15 (Hakata no mori, Fukuoka prefecture);
13.00 Kobe Steel Kobelco Steelers 36 NEC Green Rockets 21 (Hanazono, Osaka prefecture);
14.00 Fukuoka Sanix Blues 17 Coca Cola West Red Sparks 13 (Hakata no mori)

2nd round

Nov 3 (Sat)

12.00 Yamaha Jubilo 19 NEC Green Rockets 23 (Mizuho rugby stadium, Mizuho ward, Nagoya city, Aichi prefecture)
12.00 Coca Cola West Red Sparks 25 Kubota Spears 13 (Hanazono, Osaka prefecture)
14.00 Toyota Verblitz 59 Mitsubishi Dynaboars 10 (Mizuho rugby stadium, Aichi prefecture)
14.00 Sanyo Wild Knights 72 Fukuoka Sanix Blues 5 (Hanazono, Osaka prefecture)

Nov 4 (Sun)

12.00 IBM Big Blue 13 Suntory Sungoliath 52 (Chichibunomiya, Tokyo)
14.00 Toshiba Brave Lupus 40 Ricoh Black Rams 24 (Chichibunomiya, Tokyo)
14.00 Kobe Steel Kobelco Steelers 33 Kyuden Voltex 31 (Nishi-Kyōgoku sports park, Ukyō-ku, Kyoto, Kyoto prefecture)

3rd round

Nov 10 (Sat)

12.00 NEC Green Rockets 38 Kyuden Voltex 22 (Morioka Minami Koen, Iwate prefecture)
12.00 Suntory Sungoliath 22 Coca Cola West Red Sparks 23 (Hanazono, Osaka prefecture)
14.00 Ricoh Black Rams 10 Sanyo Wild Knights 39 (Morioka Minami Stadium, Iwate prefecture)
14.00 Toyota Verblitz 37 IBM Big Blue 30 (Mizuho rugby stadium, Aichi prefecture)
14.00 Kobe Steel Kobelco Steelers 54 Mitsubishi Dynaboars 7 (Hanazono, Osaka prefecture)
17.00 Kubota Spears 7 Yamaha Jubilo 14 (Chichibunomiya, Tokyo)
19.00 Toshiba Brave Lupus 28 Fukuoka Sanix Blues 12 (Chichibunomiya, Tokyo)

4th round

Nov 17 (Sat)

14.00 Kubota Spears 21 Kobe Steel Kobelco Steelers 28 (Tohoku Denryoku Big Swan Stadium, Niigata prefecture)
14.00 Ricoh Black Rams 22 Suntory Sungoliath 43 (Mitsuzawa Stadium, Kanagawa prefecture)
14.00 Kyuden Voltex 22 Toyota Verblitz 27 (Pocari Sweat stadium, Otsuka sports park, Naruto, Tokushima prefecture)

Nov 18 (Sun)

12.00 Coca Cola West Red Sparks 16 Toshiba Brave Lupus 43 (Ikime no Mori Ivy Stadium, Miyazaki, Miyazaki prefecture)
13.00 Sanyo Wild Knights 57 IBM Big Blue 21 (Ota city, Gunma prefecture)
13.00 NEC Green Rockets 57 Mitsubishi Dynaboars 34 (Kashiwa no Ha Park Stadium, Kashiwa, Chiba prefecture)
14.00 Fukuoka Sanix Blues 7 Yamaha Jubilo 5 (Ikime no Mori Ivy Stadium, Miyazaki, Miyazaki prefecture)

5th round

Dec 1 (Sat)

12.00 IBM Big Blue 23 Fukuoka Sanix Blues 12 (Chichibunomiya)
14.00 Suntory Sungoliath 50 Mitsubishi Dynaboars 10 (Chichibunomiya)
14.00 Toyota Verblitz 61 Ricoh Black Rams 20 (Kochi Haruno Stadium, Kochi prefecture)

Dec 2 (Sun)

12.00 Coca Cola West Red Sparks 18 Yamaha Jubilo 39 (Kamoike Stadium, Kagoshima prefecture)
13.00 Sanyo Wild Knights 57 Kobe Kobelco Steelers 24 (Momotaro Stadium, Okayama prefecture)
14.00 Kubota Spears 11 NEC Green Rockets 13 (Matsumoto, Nagano prefecture)
14.00 Kyuden Voltex 19 Toshiba Brave Lupus 34 (Kamoike Stadium, Kagoshima prefecture)

6th round

Dec 8 (Sat)

12.00 Kubota Spears 30 Ricoh Black Rams 14 (Chichibunomiya)
12.00 IBM Big Blue 17 Yamaha Jubilo 39 (Hanazono)
14.00 Mitsubishi Dynaboars 26 Toshiba Brave Lupus 59 (Chichibunomiya)
14.00 Kobe Kobelco Steelers 27 Coca Cola West Red Sparks 16 (Hanazono)

Dec 9 (Sat)

12.00 Fukuoka Sanix Blues 0 NEC Green Rockets 45 (KKWing Stadium, Kumamoto prefecture)
13.00 Toyota Verblitz 25 Sanyo Wild Knights 26 (Kose Sports Stadium, Yamanashi prefecture)
14.00 Kyuden Voltex 23 Suntory Sungoliath 61 (KKWing Stadium, Kumamoto prefecture)

7th round

Dec 15 (Sat)

12.00 Ricoh Black Rams 7 NEC Green Rockets 33 (Chichibunomiya)
13.00 Toyota Verblitz 15 Kubota Spears 19 (Ojiyama Stadium, Shiga prefecture)
13.00 Kobe Kobelco Steelers 14 Suntory Sungoliath 31 (Home's Stadium Kobe, Kobe)
14.00 Kyuden Voltex 22 Yamaha Jubilo 47 (Chichibunomiya)

Dec 16 (Sun)

12.00 Coca Cola West Red Sparks 13 IBM Big Blue 10 (Kakidomari Stadium, Nagasaki city)
13.00 Toshiba Brave Lupus 0 Sanyo Wild Knights 41 (Tochigi Green Stadium, Tochigi prefecture)
14.00 Fukuoka Sanix Blues 17 Mitsubishi Dynaboars 10 (Kakidomari Stadium, Nagasaki)

8th round

Dec 22 (Sat)

13.00 Sanyo Wild Knights 35 Suntory Sungoliath 24 (Ota city, Gunma prefecture)
13.00 Fukuoka Sanix Blues 13 Toyota Verblitz 20 (Matsuyama, Ehime prefecture)
14.00 Mitsubishi Dynaboars 14 Kubota Spears 64 (Chichibunomiya)
14.00 Toshiba Brave Lupus 36 Kobe Kobelco Steelers 17 (Ajinomoto stadium, Tokyo)
14.00 Yamaha Jubilo 58 Ricoh Black Rams 3 (Yamaha Stadium, Shizuoka)
14.00 Coca Cola West Red Sparks 16 Kyuden Voltex 20 (Hakata no Mori, Fukuoka prefecture)

Dec 24 (Mon)

13.00 IBM Big Blue 14 NEC Green Rockets 21 (Fukuda Denshi arena, Chiba prefecture)

9th round

January 5 (Sat)

12.00 Mitsubishi Dynaboars 15 Ricoh Black Rams 39 (Chichibunomiya)
12.00 Kyuden Voltex 10 IBM Big Blue 26 (Hakata no Mori, Fukuoka prefecture)
14.00 Suntory Sungoliath 50 Fukuoka Sanix Blues 26 (Chichibunomiya)
14.00 Yamaha Jubilo 28 Kobe Kobelco Steelers 31 (Yamaha Stadium, Shizuoka)
14.00 Coca Cola West Red Sparks 19 Sanyo Wild Knights 55 (Hakata no Mori, Fukuoka prefecture)

January 6 (Sun)

12.00 NEC Green Rockets 24 Toyota Verblitz 40 (Chichibunomiya)
14.00 Toshiba Brave Lupus 33 Kubota Spears 17 (Chichibunomiya)

10th round

January 13 (Sun)

12.00 IBM Big Blue 8 Toshiba Brave Lupus 45 (Chichibunomiya)
13.00 NEC Green Rockets 8 Suntory Sungoliath 19 (Kashiwa no Ha Park Stadium, Kashiwa, Chiba prefecture)
13.00 Kobe Kobelco Steelers 7 Toyota Verblitz 45 (Home's Stadium Kobe, Kobe)
14.00 Ricoh Black Rams 6 Coca Cola West Red Sparks 10 (Chichibunomiya)
14.00 Yamaha Jubilo 96 Mitsubishi Dynaboars 0 (Gifu prefecture)

January 14 (Mon)

12.00 Kubota Spears 17 Fukuoka Sanix Blues 33 (Hanazono)
14.00 Sanyo Wild Knights 52 Kyuden Voltex 7 (Hanazono)

11th round

January 19 (Sat)

12.00 Mitsubishi Dynaboars 17 IBM Big Blue 45 (Chichibunomiya)
13.00 Kobe Kobelco Steelers 26 Ricoh Black Rams 17 (Home's Stadium Kobe, Kobe)
14.00 NEC Green Rockets 33 Toshiba Brave Lupus 21 (Chichibunomiya)
14.00 Toyota Verblitz 53 Coca Cola West Red Sparks 24 (Toyota Stadium, Aichi prefecture)

January 20 (Sun)

13.00 Sanyo Wild Knights 40 Yamaha Jubilo 10 (Ota city, Gunma prefecture)
13.00 Suntory Sungoliath 24 Kubota Spears 14 (Hanazono)
13.00 Fukuoka Sanix Blues 5 Kyuden Voltex 13 (Global Arena, Munakata, Fukuoka prefecture)

12th round

January 26 (Sat)

12.00 Ricoh Black Rams 17 Kyuden Voltex 20 (Chichibunomiya)
12.00 Coca Cola West Red Sparks 27 NEC Green Rockets 35 (Hanazono)
14.00 Suntory Sungoliath 31 Yamaha Jubilo 7 (Chichibunomiya)
14.00 Toyota Verblitz 19 Toshiba Brave Lupus 17 (Hanazono)

January 27 (Sun)

12.00 Fukuoka Sanix Blues 12 Kobe Kobelco Steelers 52 (Chichibunomiya)
14.00 Mitsubishi Dynaboars 12 Sanyo Wild Knights 66 (Chichibunomiya)
14.00 Kubota Spears 19 Nihon IBM Big Blue 10 (Kumagaya prefectural rugby ground, Saitama)

13th round

February 2 (Sat)

12.00 Coca Cola West Red Sparks 67 Mitsubishi Dynaboars 12 (Hakata no Mori)
14.00 Yamaha Jubilo 21 Toshiba Brave Lupus 39 (Yamaha Stadium)
14.00 Fukuoka Sanix Blues 21 Ricoh Black Rams 29 (Hakata no Mori)

February 3 (Sun)

12.00 NEC Green Rockets v Sanyo Wild Knights POSTPONED - SNOW (Chichibunomiya)
12.00 Kubota Spears 27 Kyuden Voltex 20 (Hanazono)
14.00 Suntory Sungoliath v Toyota Verblitz POSTPONED - SNOW (Chichibunomiya)
14.00 Kobe Kobelco Steelers 28 Nihon IBM Big Blue 26 (Hanazono)

February 9 (Sat)

12.00 NEC Green Rockets 7 Sanyo Wild Knights 34 (Chichibunomiya)
14.00 Suntory Sungoliath 31 Toyota Verblitz 31 (Chichibunomiya)

The fifth Microsoft Cup (2008)

The top four teams at the end of the season play in the Microsoft Cup which consists of two semi-finals and a final.

emi-finals

Feb 17
Sanyo Wild Knights 25 Toshiba Brave Lupus 21 (14.00, Chichibunomiya)
Suntory Sungoliath 33 Toyota Verblitz 10 (14.00, Hanazono)

Final

February 24 14.00: Suntory Sungoliath 14 Sanyo Wild Knights 10 (Chichibunomiya)

Promotion and Relegation

The 13th and 14th placed teams (Ricoh Black Rams and Mitsubishi Dynaboars respectively) were automatically relegated at the end of the fifth season and replaced by the 1st and 2nd teams from Top Challenge One (Kintetsu Liners and Yokogawa Denki respectively). The 11th and 12th placed teams (IBM Big Blue and Fukuoka Sanix Blues) play the winner of Top Challenge Two (World Fighting Bull) and the third placed team of Top Challenge One (Mazda Blue Zoomers) respectively in the play-offs ("irekaesen"), the winners of these two games being in the league next season.

The top team in Top Challenge One (Kintetsu Liners) earned a place in the first round of the 45th All-Japan Rugby Football Championship.

Play-offs ("Irekaesen")

March 9, 2008

13.00 IBM Big Blue (11th) 20 World Fighting Bull 17 (Top team of Challenge 2) (Chichibunomiya)
13.00 Fukuoka Sanix Blues (12th)79 Mazda Blue Zoomers 10 (Third team of Challenge 1) (Hakata no Mori)

So IBM and Sanix will remain in the Top League next season.

Top Challenge One

January 27, 2008 (Sun), [http://www.mazdarfc.com/top.htm Mazda Blue Zoomers] (Kyushu) 13 Kintetsu Liners 54 (Kansai), Hanazono, Osaka, 14:00.

February 2 (Sat), Mazda Blue Zoomers (Kyushu) 0 Yokogawa Denki 50 (Kanto), Hiroshima, 15:00.

February 10 (Sun), Kintetsu Liners (Kansai) 23 Yokogawa Denki 12 (Kanto), Chichibunomiya, Tokyo, 14:00.

Final order: 1st-Kintetsu, 2nd- Yokogawa Denki, 3rd-Mazda

Top Challenge Two

January 27, 2008 (Sun), Chugoku Denryoku (Kyushu) 0 World Fighting Bull (Kansai) 112 , Hanazono, Osaka, 12:00.

February 2 (Sat), Chugoku Denryoku (Kyushu) 5 Secom Rugguts 80 (Kanto), Hiroshima, 13:00.

February 10 (Sun), World Fighting Bull (Kansai) 10 Secom Rugguts 3 (Kanto), Chichibu, Tokyo, 12:00.

Final order: 1st - World, 2nd - Secom, 3rd - Chugoku Denryoku

ee also

* Top League

Other similar competitions

* Super 14
* Top 14

External links

* [http://www.rugbyjapan.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=316&Itemid=35 Suntory are Top League Champions] - JRFU English website, February 24, 2008
* [http://www.top-league.jp/index.html Top League] (official site in Japanese)
* [http://www.top-league.jp/mobile/i/index.html Top League results for mobile users] (Japanese)
* [http://www.rugbyjapan.com/ JRFU Official English Site]
* [http://www.jsports.co.jp/program_guide/month/english/today.html J Sports TV schedules] (in English)
* [http://www.dhs.kyutech.ac.jp/~ruxton/jprugby.html Unofficial Japanese Rugby page] (in English)