Wikipedia

2011–12 Top League

The 2011–12 Top League was the ninth season of Japan's domestic rugby union competition, the Top League. The Suntory Sungoliath team defeated Sanyo Wild Knights by 47–28 in the final of the Microsoft Cup to claim their second Top League championship.

2011–12 Top League
2011–12 top scorer, Yamaha's Ayumu Goromaru (right).
CountriesJapan Japan
Date29 October 2011 – 26 February 2012
ChampionsSuntory Sungoliath (2nd title)
Runners-upSanyo Wild Knights
Top point scorerJapan Ayumu Goromaru (182 points)
Top try scorerFiji Nemani Nadolo (19 tries)

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.

Teams

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Team Region
Coca-Cola West Red Sparks Fukuoka, Kyushu
Fukuoka Sanix Blues Fukuoka, Kyushu
Kintetsu Liners Osaka, Kansai
Kobelco Steelers Hyogo, Kansai
NTT DoCoMo Red Hurricanes , Osaka
NEC Green Rockets Chiba, Kanto
NTT Com Shining Arcs Chiba, Chiba
Ricoh Black Rams Tokyo, Kanto
Sanyo Wild Knights Gunma, Kanto
Suntory Sungoliath Tokyo, Kanto
Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo, Kanto
Toyota Verblitz Aichi, Tokai
Honda Heat Suzuka, Mie
Yamaha Jubilo Shizuoka, Tokai

Regular season

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Table

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Top League Table
Club Played Won Drawn Lost Points For Points Against Points Difference Try Bonus Losing Bonus Points
1 Suntory Sungoliath 13 12 0 1 512 278 +234 8 1 57
2 Toshiba Brave Lupus 13 11 0 2 475 173 +302 9 2 55
3 Sanyo Wild Knights 13 11 0 2 480 324 +156 8 1 53
4 NEC Green Rockets 13 8 0 5 349 314 +35 8 1 41
5 Kintetsu Liners 13 8 0 5 341 311 +30 5 2 39
6 Kobelco Steelers 13 6 1 6 349 288 +61 7 5 38
7 Ricoh Black Rams 13 7 1 5 386 333 +53 7 1 38
8 Yamaha Jubilo 13 6 1 6 407 274 +133 6 3 35
9 NTT Com Shining Arcs 13 5 1 7 322 414 −92 6 2 30
10 Toyota Verblitz 13 5 0 8 341 323 +18 5 4 29
11 Fukuoka Sanix Blues 13 4 0 9 254 458 −204 7 2 25
12 NTT DoCoMo Red Hurricanes 13 2 1 10 291 555 −264 5 0 15
13 Honda Heat 13 2 1 10 226 479 −253 2 1 13
14 Coca-Cola West Red Sparks 13 1 0 12 285 494 −209 3 5 12

 • 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 8 qualified for 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 regional leagues for 2012–13.

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

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Round 1

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29 October 2011 Ricoh Black Rams 36–26 Fukuoka Sanix Blues Chichibu, Tokyo  
12:00
29 October 2011 Yamaha Júbilo 55–18 NTT Communications Shining Arcs Yamaha Stadium, Shizuoka  
13:00
29 October 2011 Kobelco Steelers 38–17 NEC Green Rockets Kincho Stadium, Osaka  
14:00
29 October 2011 Sanyo Wild Knights 26–31 Suntory Sungoliath Chichibu, Tokyo  
14:00
30 October 2011 Honda Heat 19–19 NTT DoCoMo Red Hurricanes Hanazono, Osaka  
14:00
30 October 2011 Toyota Verblitz 15–36 Toshiba Brave Lupus Mizuho Stadium, Aichi  
14:00
30 October 2011 Kintetsu Liners 32–16 Coca-Cola West Red Sparks Hanazono, Osaka  
14:00

Title play-offs

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Top 4 sides of the regular season competed in the Microsoft Cup (2012) knock-out tournament to fight for the Top League title. The top 4 teams of 2011–12 were Suntory Sungoliath, Toshiba Brave Lupus, Sanyo Wild Knights, and NEC Green Rockets.

Semi-finals

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19 February 2012 Suntory Sungoliath 56–8 NEC Green Rockets Chichibu, Tokyo  
12:00
19 February 2012 Sanyo Wild Knights 37–25 Toshiba Brave Lupus Chichibu, Tokyo  
14:00

Final

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26 February 2012 Suntory Sungoliath 47–28 Sanyo Wild Knights Chichibu, Tokyo  
14:00

Wildcard play-offs

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The Top League teams ranked 5th and 8th played-off, and the teams ranked 6th and 7th played-off, with the winners qualifying for the All-Japan Rugby Football Championship.

18 February 2012 Kobelco Steelers 32–19 Ricoh Black Rams Hanazono, Osaka  
12:00
18 February 2012 Kintetsu Liners 15–17 Yamaha Jubilo Hanazono, Osaka  
14:00

So Kobe and Yamaha progressed to the All-Japan Rugby Football Championship.

Top League Challenge Series

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Main article: 2011–12 Top League Challenge Series

Canon Eagles and Kyuden Voltex won promotion to the 2012–13 Top League via the 2011–12 Top League Challenge Series, while Kubota Spears and Toyota Industries Shuttles progressed to the promotion play-offs.

Promotion and relegation play-offs

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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.

3 March 2012 Fukuoka Sanix Blues 39–17 Toyota Industries Shuttles  
14:00
3 March 2012 NTT DoCoMo Red Hurricanes 29–27 Kubota Spears  
14:00

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

End-of-season awards

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Award Winner
Tournament winner: Suntory Sungoliath
Fair Play award: Toshiba Brave Lupus
Best player of the season:   George Smith (Suntory Sungoliath)
Revelation of the season:   Michael Leitch (Toshiba Brave Lupus)
Most tries:   Nemani Nadolo (NEC Green Rockets)
Most kicks:   Ayumu Goromaru (Yamaha Jubilo)
Best referee of the season:   Taizo Hirabayashi
Special prize:   Tomoaki Nakai (Toshiba Brave Lupus)
First player to 100 Top League appearances

2012/2013 Team of the Season

Pos Player Team
FB 15   Ayumu Goromaru Yamaha Jubilo
RW 14   Tomoki Kitagawa Sanyo Wild Knights
OC 13   Jaque Fourie Sanyo Wild Knights
IC 12   Kosei Ono Fukuoka Sanix Blues
LW 11   Nemani Nadolo Sanyo Wild Knights
FH 10   Yasumasa Shigemitsu Kintetsu Liners
SH 9   Atsushi Hiwasa Suntory Sungoliath
N8 8   Masato Toyoda Toshiba Brave Lupus
OF 7   Michael Leitch Toshiba Brave Lupus
BF 6   George Smith Suntory Sungoliath
RL 5   Hitoshi Ono Toshiba Brave Lupus
LL 4   Daniel Heenan Sanyo Wild Knights
TP 3   Kensuke Hatakeyama Suntory Sungoliath
HK 2   Shota Horie Sanyo Wild Knights
LP 1   Hisateru Hirashima Kobelco Steelers

References

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  1. ^ "2011/12 Top League". The Rugby Archive.
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