The 2021 Top League was the 18th season of Japan's top tier domestic rugby union competition. The original schedule was for a three stage competition that included all 16 Top League teams plus the top four sides from the Top Challenge League, in preparation for the three-tier professional league planned for 2022. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan the season was postponed and re-formatted.
Under the revised format, the two leagues were played separately. The Top League sides were split into two conferences of eight teams for the first stage, followed by a 16-team knockout stage to decide the champion team.
Teams
ClubRegionHead CoachCaptain Canon Eagles Machida, Tokyo Keisuke Sawaki Yu Tamura Hino Red Dolphins Hino, Tokyo Takuro Miuchi Kyosuke Horie Honda Heat Suzuka, Mie Danny Lee Ryota Kobayashi Kobelco Steelers Kobe Dave Dillon Tom Franklin Kubota Spears Abiko, Chiba Frans Ludeke Harumichi Tatekawa Mitsubishi Sagamihara Dynaboars Sagamihara Greg Cooper Heiden Bedwell-Curtis Munakata Sanix Blues Munakata, Fukuoka Corey Brown Ryuichiro Fukutsubo NEC Green Rockets Abiko, Chiba Ryota Asano Ryoi Kamei NTT Communications Shining Arcs Chiba Prefecture Hugh Reece-Edwards Shokei Kin NTT DoCoMo Red Hurricanes Osaka Johan Ackermann Lourens Erasmus Panasonic Wild Knights Ōta, Gunma Robbie Deans Atsushi Sakate Ricoh Black Rams Setagaya Damien Hill Shuhei Matsuhashi Suntory Sungoliath Fuchū, Tokyo Milton Haig Ryoto Nakamura Toshiba Brave Lupus Fuchū, Tokyo Todd Blackadder Michael Leitch Toyota Verblitz Toyota City Simon Cron Kaito Shigeno Yamaha Jubilo Iwata, Shizuoka Naoya Okubo Yuya Odo
Stage One The 16 Top League sides will be split between a red conference and a white conference. They will only play against teams from their conference.
Red Conference
Ladder Red Conference Standings Pos Team P W D L PF PA PD BP Pts 1 Suntory Sungoliath 7 7 0 0 420 129 291 6 34 2 Toyota Verblitz 7 6 0 1 288 186 102 4 28 3 Kubota Spears 7 5 0 2 236 130 106 5 25 4 NTT Communications Shining Arcs 7 3 1 3 236 254 -18 3 17 5 Toshiba Brave Lupus 7 3 0 4 224 229 -5 4 16 6 Honda Heat 7 1 0 5 133 240 -107 2 6 7 Mitsubishi Sagamihara Dynaboars 7 1 1 5 123 309 -186 0 6 8 Munakata Sanix Blues 7 1 0 6 139 322 -183 1 5
Fixtures & Results Round 1
Round 2
Round 3
Round 4
Round 5
Round 6
Round 7
White Conference
Ladder White Conference Standings Pos Team P W D L PF PA PD BP Pts 1 Panasonic Wild Knights 7 6 1 0 318 76 242 5 31 2 Kobelco Steelers 7 6 1 0 289 138 151 3 29 3 NTT DoCoMo Red Hurricanes 7 4 0 3 175 175 0 1 17 4 Ricoh Black Rams 7 3 0 4 179 184 -5 5 17 5 Canon Eagles 7 3 1 3 176 230 -54 2 16 6 Yamaha Júbilo 7 3 0 4 239 240 -1 3 15 7 Hino Red Dolphins 7 1 1 5 90 238 -148 1 7 8 NEC Green Rockets 7 0 0 7 139 324 -185 1 1
Fixtures & Results Round 1
Round 2
Round 3
Round 4
Round 5
Round 6
Round 7
Playoff Stage All sixteen Top League sides plus the top four finishing sides from the 2021 Top Challenge League will be included in the playoff stage. All matches of the playoff stage are knockouts with lower ranked Top League conference teams and the top four Top Challenge League teams playing in the first round to qualify to the round of sixteen.
First round
Bracket
Round of 16
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final
FB 15 Seiya OzakiRW 14 Takaaki Nakazuru OC 13 Shogo NakanoIC 12 Ryoto Nakamura (c) LW 11 Shota EmiFH 10 Beauden Barrett SH 9 Yutaka Nagare N8 8 Sean McMahonOF 7 Naoki Ozawa BF 6 Hendrik TuiRL 5 Harry HockingsLL 4 Tom Savage TP 3 Shinnosuke Kakinaga HK 2 Shunta Nakamura LP 1 Yukio Morikawa Substitutions:HK 16 Kosuke Horikoshi PR 17 Shintaro IshiharaPR 18 Sam Talakai LK 19 Joe Latta FL 20 Tevita Tatafu SH 21 Naoto Saito FH 22 Hikaru TamuraCE 23 Yusuke Kajimura Coach: Milton Haig FB 15 Ryuji Noguchi RW 14 Semisi TupouOC 13 Dylan RileyIC 12 Hadleigh Parkes LW 11 Kenki FukuokaFH 10 Rikiya MatsudaSH 9 Keisuke Uchida N8 8 Jack CornelsenOF 7 Shunsuke Nunomaki BF 6 Ben GunterRL 5 George KruisLL 4 Daniel Heenan TP 3 Shohei Hirano HK 2 Atsushi Sakate (c)LP 1 Keita Inagaki Substitutions:HK 16 Shota Horie PR 17 Craig Millar PR 18 Asaeli Ai Valu LK 19 Ryota Hasegawa FL 20 Itsuki OnishiSH 21 Taiki KoyamaFH 22 Takuya YamasawaCE 23 Shota Fukui Coach: Robbie Deans
Notes
References