Misplaced Pages

2004–05 Top League

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
Second season of Japan's domestic rugby union competition
2004–05 Top League
CountriesJapan Japan
Date
ChampionsToshiba Brave Lupus
Runners-upYamaha Jubilo
Top try scorerTonga Ruatangi Vatuvei (18 tries)
← 2003–042005–06 →

The 2004–05 Top League was the second 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
IBM Big Blue Chiba, Kanto
Kintetsu Liners Osaka, Kansai
Kobelco Steelers Hyogo, Kansai
Kubota Spears Chiba, 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
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
1 Toshiba Brave Lupus 11 10 0 1 463 166 297 9 1 50
2 Yamaha Jubilo 11 9 0 2 380 218 162 8 1 45
3 NEC Green Rockets 11 9 0 2 407 253 154 7 1 44
4 Toyota Verblitz 11 8 0 3 427 224 203 9 2 43
5 Kobelco Steelers 11 6 0 5 326 356 -30 8 2 34
6 Kubota Spears 11 5 0 6 277 334 -57 6 1 27
7 Sanyo Wild Knights 11 4 0 7 346 296 50 4 4 24
8 Suntory Sungoliath 11 4 0 7 307 282 25 4 4 24
9 World Fighting Bull 11 4 0 7 230 366 -136 3 1 20
10 Ricoh Black Rams 11 4 0 7 207 370 -163 1 1 18
11 Kintetsu Liners 11 2 0 9 261 514 -253 4 1 13
12 IBM Big Blue 11 1 0 10 243 495 -252 4 2 10

 • The top 8 teams qualified to the Microsoft Cup play-offs.
 • The top 4 teams also qualified to for entry into the All-Japan Rugby Football Championship.
 • Teams 9 and 10 went through to the promotion and relegation play-offs against regional challengers.
 • Teams 11 and 12 were automatically relegated.

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

This section needs expansion with: Results Rd 1-11 (source top-league.jp). You can help by adding to it. (November 2013)

Microsoft Cup play-offs

The top eight teams in the league played off for the Microsoft Cup (2005) knock out tournament, which was won by Toshiba Brave Lupus.

Quarter-finals

23 January 2005 Toshiba Brave Lupus 33 - 13 Suntory Sungoliath Chichibunomiya  
14:00
23 January 2005 NEC Green Rockets 16 - 51 Kobelco Steelers Chichibunomiya  
14:00
23 January 2005 Toyota Verblitz 41 - 21 Sanyo Wild Knights Hanazono  
14:00
23 January 2005 Yamaha Jubilo 38 - 33 Kubota Spears Hanazono  
14:00

Semi-finals

30 January 2005 Toshiba Brave Lupus 41 - 0 Kobelco Steelers Chichibunomiya  
14:00
30 January 2005 Toyota Verblitz 33 - 33 Yamaha Jubilo Hanazono  
14:00

The number of tries and goals being equal, the result was decided in favour of Yamaha by a lottery held at Hanazono after the game.

Final

6 February 2005 Toshiba Brave Lupus 20 - 6 Yamaha Jubilo Chichibunomiya  
14:00

In the season Toshiba Brave Lupus were top of the Top League, and Yamaha were second.

Top League Challenge Series

Main article: 2005 Top League Challenge Series

Fukuoka Sanix Bombs and Secom Rugguts won promotion to the 2005–06 Top League via the 2005 Top League Challenge Series, while Honda Heat and Toyota Industries Shuttles progressed to the promotion play-offs.

Promotion and relegation play-offs

Two promotion/relegation matches (Irekaesen) were played with the winners qualifying for the 2005–06 Top League. The 10th-placed team from the Top League against the 3rd-placed team from Challenge 1. The 9th-placed team from the Top League against the 1st-placed team from Challenge 2.

13 February 2005 Ricoh Black Rams 42 - 7 Toyota Industries Shuttles  
14:00
13 February 2005 World Fighting Bull 49 - 0 Honda Heat  
14:00

So Ricoh and World stayed in the Top League for the 2005–06 season.

References

  1. "2004/05 Top League". The Rugby Archive. Archived from the original on January 17, 2015.

External links

Japan Rugby League One
2023–24 teams
Division One
Division Two
Division Three
Former teams
Seasons
Categories: