2005–06 Top League

2005–06 Top League
Countries Japan Japan
Date October 2005 – February 2006
Champions Toshiba Brave Lupus
Runners-up Sanyo Wild Knights

The 2005–06 Top League was the third season of Japan's domestic rugby union competition, the Top League.

Toshiba Brave Lupus won both the league round-robin and the Microsoft Cup knockout competitions.

Teams

Team Region
Fukuoka Sanix Blues Fukuoka, Kyushu
Kobe Steel 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

Top League 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 11 9 0 2 406 193 213 10 0 46
2Sanyo Wild Knights 11 9 0 2 416 276 140 6 0 42
3NEC Green Rockets 11 9 0 2 270 136 134 4 1 41
4Toyota Verblitz 11 7 0 4 431 263 168 6 3 37
5Kobe Steelers 11 7 0 4 284 225 59 4 1 33
6Suntory Sungoliath 11 6 0 5 308 241 67 6 2 32
7Yamaha Jubilo 11 5 0 6 328 211 117 4 4 28
8Kubota Spears 11 4 1 6 324 297 27 5 0 23
9World Fighting Bull 11 5 1 5 166 200 -34 0 1 23
10Secom Rugguts 11 2 0 9 260 481 -221 6 1 15
11Ricoh Black Rams 11 2 0 9 137 398 -261 2 0 10
12Fukuoka Sanix Blues 11 0 0 11 134 543 -409 1 1 2

 • The top 8 teams qualified for the Microsoft Cup play-offs.
 • The top 4 teams also qualified for entry into the All-Japan Rugby Football Championship.
 • The bottom 4 teams went through to the promotion and relegation play-offs against regional challengers.

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

    Microsoft Cup play-offs

    The top eight teams in the league played off for the Microsoft Cup (2006) knock out tournament, which was won by Toshiba Brave Lupus.

    Quarter-finals

    Semi-finals

    Final

    Challenge series

    For the following season in 2006–07, the Top League was expanded to 14 teams with two teams to be automatically promoted from the regional leagues.

    Challenge 1

    The top-placed regional teams from East Japan, West Japan and Kyushu played each other in Challenge 1. The top two were automatically promoted. The third-placed team played the 12th placed Top League team, with the winner of that game taking a Top League place.[2]

    Final order: 1st-Coca Cola West Red Sparks, 2nd-IBM, 3rd-Kintetsu.

    So Coca-Cola West Red Sparks and IBM Big Blue were promoted to the Top League for 2006–07.

    Challenge 2

    The second-placed regional teams played each other in Challenge 2 for the right to play the 9th through 11th placed Top League teams, with the winner of each promotion/relegation match taking a Top League place.

    Final order: 1st-Honda, 2nd-Kyuden, 3rd-NTT.

    Promotion and relegation play-offs

    Four promotion/relegation matches (Irekaesen) were played with the winner of each qualifying for the 2006–07 Top League. The 9th, 10th, and 11th placed team from the Top League played against the 3rd, 2nd, and 1st placed teams, respectively, from Challenge 2. The 12th placed team from the Top League played against the 3rd placed team from Challenge 1.

    So Fukuoka, Ricoh, Secom, and World all remained in the Top League for 2006–07.

    References

    1. ↑ "2005/06 Top League". The Rugby Archive.
    2. ↑ "Japan - Top League Challenge 2005/06". rugbyarchive.net. Retrieved 21 November 2013.
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