2006–07 Top League
# 2006–07 Top League

The 2006–07 Top League was the fourth season of Japan's domestic rugby union competition, the Top League. The league was expanded to from 12 to 14 teams for the 2006–07 season.

The top four teams in the league played in the Microsoft Cup which was officially integrated into the league from this season as the "Top League Play-off Tournament Microsoft Cup". The title was won by Toshiba Brave Lupus which also won the All-Japan Championship.

## Teams

Coca-Cola West Red Sparks and IBM Big Blue were promoted to the league, bringing the number of teams from 12 to 14.

| Team | Region |
| - | - |
| Coca-Cola West Red Sparks | Fukuoka, Kyushu |
| Fukuoka Sanix Blues | Fukuoka, Kyushu |
| IBM Big Blue | Chiba, Kanto |
| 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 |

## Regular 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 | 13 | 12 | 0 | 1 | 502 | 234 | 268 | 11 | 1 | 60 |
| 2 | Suntory Sungoliath | 13 | 11 | 0 | 2 | 545 | 161 | 384 | 10 | 2 | 56 |
| 3 | Yamaha Jubilo | 13 | 10 | 1 | 2 | 379 | 306 | 73 | 5 | 1 | 48 |
| 4 | Toyota Verblitz | 13 | 9 | 0 | 4 | 448 | 267 | 181 | 8 | 3 | 47 |
| 5 | Sanyo Wild Knights | 13 | 8 | 0 | 5 | 525 | 321 | 204 | 8 | 3 | 43 |
| 6 | Kobelco Steelers | 13 | 8 | 0 | 5 | 360 | 306 | 54 | 8 | 2 | 42 |
| 7 | NEC Green Rockets | 13 | 7 | 0 | 6 | 281 | 321 | -40 | 7 | 3 | 38 |
| 8 | Kubota Spears | 13 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 385 | 402 | -17 | 5 | 1 | 30 |
| 9 | Fukuoka Sanix Blues | 13 | 5 | 1 | 7 | 281 | 423 | -142 | 4 | 2 | 28 |
| 10 | Coca-Cola West Red Sparks | 13 | 4 | 0 | 9 | 267 | 368 | -101 | 4 | 1 | 21 |
| 11 | Ricoh Black Rams | 13 | 4 | 0 | 9 | 233 | 371 | -138 | 3 | 2 | 21 |
| 12 | IBM Big Blue | 13 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 241 | 503 | -262 | 3 | 1 | 16 |
| 13 | Secom Rugguts | 13 | 2 | 0 | 11 | 255 | 449 | -194 | 3 | 3 | 14 |
| 14 | World Fighting Bull | 13 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 211 | 481 | -270 | 2 | 1 | 7 |
| • The top 4 teams qualified for the title play-offs.  • The top 4 teams also qualified 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. |||||||||||||||
| 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 |||||||||||||||

## Title play-offs

The top four teams in the league were Toshiba, Suntory, Yamaha, and Toyota. They played in the Microsoft Cup (2007) knock-out tournament to fight it out for the Top league title, which was officially integrated into the league from this season as the "Top League Play-off Tournament Microsoft Cup".

The cup was won by Toshiba Brave Lupus which also won the All-Japan Championship.

## Top League Challenge Series

Kyuden Voltex and Mitsubishi Sagamihara DynaBoars won promotion to the 2007–08 Top League via the 2007 Top League Challenge Series, while Honda Heat and Kintetsu Liners progressed to the promotion play-offs.

## Promotion and relegation play-offs

Two promotion/relegation matches (Irekaesen) were played with the winners qualifying for the 2007–08 Top League.

The 11th placed team from the Top League played against the 1st placed team from Challenge 2. The 12th placed team from the Top League played against the 3rd placed team from Challenge 1.

So IBM (despite only obtaining a draw against Kinetsu), and Ricoh remained in the Top League for 2007–08.

