The 2017–18 Top League was the 15th season of Japan's top-tier domestic rugby union competition, the Top League.
The tournament was won by Suntory Sungoliath for the fifth time, beating Panasonic Wild Knights 12–8 in the final played on 13 January 2018. Kintetsu Liners were automatically relegated to the second-tier Top Challenge League competition for 2018 and NTT DoCoMo Red Hurricanes were also relegated after losing in their relegation play-off match.
Competition rules
In January 2017, the JRFU announced that the Top League competition would be held earlier in the year, in order to aid the Japanese Super Rugby franchise the Sunwolves' preparations for the following season. The sixteen Top League teams would be divided into two conferences for the first stage of the competition; each team would play the seven other teams in their conferences once, plus an extra six matches against teams in the opposite conferences for a total of thirteen matches.
All sixteen teams will then progress to a play-off stage; the top two teams in each conference will advance to the title play-offs, the next two teams in each conference to the 5th-place play-offs, the next two teams in each conference to the 9th-place play-offs and the bottom two teams in each conference to the 13th-place play-offs, which will determine the final positions for the season. The title play-offs will also double as the All-Japan Rugby Football Championship, which would no longer include university teams. The team that finishes 16th will be automatically relegated to the 2018 Top Challenge League, while the other three teams in the 13th-place play-off will all play in relegation play-off matches.
Teams
The following teams took part in the 2017–18 Top League competition:
2017–18 Top League Red Conference teams Team name Region Kintetsu Liners Higashiosaka, Osaka, Kansai Kobelco Steelers Kobe, Kansai Kubota Spears Abiko, Chiba, Kantō NTT DoCoMo Red Hurricanes Osaka, Kansai NTT Com Shining Arcs Chiba, Chiba, Kantō Suntory Sungoliath Fuchū, Tokyo, Kantō Toshiba Brave Lupus Fuchū, Tokyo, Kantō Toyota Verblitz Toyota, Aichi, Tokai
2017–18 Top League White Conference teams Team name Region Canon Eagles Machida, Tokyo, Kantō Coca-Cola Red Sparks Fukuoka, Kyushu Munakata Sanix Blues Munakata, Fukuoka, Kyushu NEC Green Rockets Abiko, Chiba, Kantō Panasonic Wild Knights Ota, Gunma, Kantō Ricoh Black Rams Tokyo, Kantō Toyota Industries Shuttles Aichi, Mizuho Yamaha Júbilo Iwata, Shizuoka, Tokai
NTT DoCoMo Red Hurricanes won the 2016–17 Top League Challenge 1 series to win promotion back to the Top League after a one-season absence.
First stage
Standings
The final standings for the 2017–18 Top League First Stage were:
2017–18 Top League First Stage Red Conference standings Pos Team P W D L PF PA PD TB LB Pts 1 Suntory Sungoliath 13 12 0 1 450 180 +270 7 0 55 2 Toyota Verblitz 13 10 0 3 394 288 +106 4 2 46 3 Toshiba Brave Lupus 13 8 0 5 345 292 +53 4 3 39 4 Kobelco Steelers 13 7 1 5 353 297 +56 4 3 37 5 NTT Com Shining Arcs 13 6 1 6 310 277 +33 2 3 31 6 Kubota Spears 13 6 0 7 305 401 −96 1 1 26 7 NTT DoCoMo Red Hurricanes 13 6 0 7 291 402 −111 2 0 26 8 Kintetsu Liners 13 4 0 9 213 365 −152 0 1 17 2017–18 Top League First Stage White Conference standings Pos Team P W D L PF PA PD TB LB Pts 1 Panasonic Wild Knights 13 13 0 0 580 142 +438 11 0 63 2 Yamaha Júbilo 13 9 0 4 440 232 +208 8 2 46 3 Ricoh Black Rams 13 9 0 4 314 239 +75 6 1 43 4 NEC Green Rockets 13 6 0 7 250 323 −73 1 1 26 5 Canon Eagles 13 4 0 9 246 399 −153 1 3 20 6 Toyota Industries Shuttles 13 2 0 11 248 362 −114 1 2 11 7 Munakata Sanix Blues 13 1 0 12 205 392 −187 0 4 8 8 Coca-Cola Red Sparks 13 0 0 13 203 556 −353 0 3 3 Legend: P = Games played, W = Games won, D = Games drawn, L = Games lost, PF = Points for, PA = Points against, PD = Points difference, TB = Try bonus points, LB = Losing bonus points, Pts = Log points. The top two teams in each conference qualified for the title play-offs. The third and fourth-placed teams in each conference qualified to the 5th-place play-offs. The fifth and sixth-placed teams in each conference qualified to the 9th-place play-offs. The seventh and eighth-placed teams in each conference qualified to the 13th-place play-offs.
Matches
The 2017–2018 Top League fixtures are:
Round 1
Round 2
Round 3
Round 4
Round 5
Round 6
Round 7
Round 8
Round 9
Round 10
Round 11
Round 12
Round 13
Second stage
Standings
The final standings for the 2017–18 Top League are:
2017–18 Top League standings Pos Team 1 Suntory Sungoliath 2 Panasonic Wild Knights 3 Yamaha Júbilo 4 Toyota Verblitz 5 Kobelco Steelers 6 Toshiba Brave Lupus 7 Ricoh Black Rams 8 NEC Green Rockets 9 NTT Com Shining Arcs 10 Canon Eagles 11 Kubota Spears 12 Toyota Industries Shuttles 13 Munakata Sanix Blues 14 Coca-Cola Red Sparks 15 NTT DoCoMo Red Hurricanes 16 Kintetsu Liners Top League and All-Japan Rugby Football Championship champions. The 13th to 15-placed teams qualify to the relegation play-offs. The 16th-placed team is automatically relegated to the 2018 Top Challenge League.
Title play-offs
The title play-offs also double up as the 55th All-Japan Rugby Football Championship.
5th-place play-offs
9th-place play-offs
13th-place play-offs
Promotion and relegation
Honda Heat was promoted to the 2018–19 Top League as champions of the 2017 Top Challenge League, replacing the 16th-placed Kintetsu Liners.
In addition, there were three promotion/relegation play-offs for three places in the 2018–19 Top League. The teams ranked 13th, 14th and 15th in the Top League played off against the teams ranked 4th, 3rd and 2nd in the 2017 Top Challenge League respectively.
Hino Red Dolphins beat NTT DoCoMo Red Hurricanes 20–17 to replace them in the Top League for 2018–19, with latter being relegated to the Top Challenge League. Coca-Cola Red Sparks and Munakata Sanix Blues retained their places in the Top League for 2018–19, with the former drawing against Mitsubishi Sagamihara DynaBoars and the latter beating Kyuden Voltex.
See also
2017 Top Challenge League
References