2013–14 Top League
# 2013–14 Top League

The 2013–14 Top League was the 11th season of Japan's domestic rugby union competition, the Top League. It kicked off on 30 August 2013. The final was held on 9 February 2014 and won by Panasonic Wild Knights.

## Teams

The Top League expanded from 14 to 16 teams for the 2013–14 season. The Sanix Blues team was relegated, and Coca-Cola West Red Sparks, Kubota Spears, Toyota Industries were promoted to the Top League for 2013–14.

| Team | Region | Coach | Captain |
| - | - | - | - |
| Canon Eagles | Machida, Tokyo, Kantō | Yoji Nagatomo | Taku Wada |
| Coca-Cola West Red Sparks | Fukuoka, Kyushu | Shogo Mukai | Masakazu Toyota |
| Kintetsu Liners | Higashiosaka, Osaka, Kansai | Ryusuke Maeda | Haruki Ota |
| Kobelco Steelers | Kobe, Kansai | Seiji Hirao | Daiki Hashimoto |
| Kubota Spears | Abiko, Chiba, Kantō | Takashi Yamagami | Tatsurou Konno |
| Kyuden Voltex | Fukuoka, Kyūshū | Koji Hirata | Makoto Matsumoto |
| NEC Green Rockets | Abiko, Chiba, Kantō | Greg Cooper | Ryota Asano |
| NTT DoCoMo Red Hurricanes | Osaka, Kansai | Kazunari Takano | Hiroki Yoshioka |
| NTT Com Shining Arcs | Chiba, Chiba, Kantō | Masato Hayashi | Hiraku Tomoigawa |
| Panasonic Wild Knights | Ota, Gunma, Kantō | Norifumi Nakajima | Shota Horie |
| Ricoh Black Rams | Tokyo, Kantō | Leon Holden | Daisuke Komatsu |
| Suntory Sungoliath | Fuchū, Tokyo, Kantō | Naoya Okubo | Shinya Makabe |
| Toshiba Brave Lupus | Fuchū, Tokyo, Kantō | Kenichi Wada | Michael Leitch |
| Toyota Industries Shuttles | Aichi, Mizuho | Tai McIsaac | Takayuki Kamitani |
| Toyota Verblitz | Toyota, Aichi, Tokai | Keiji Hirose | Ryuta Ueno |
| Yamaha Júbilo | Iwata, Shizuoka, Tokai | Katsuyuki Kiyomiya | Yuta Kasahara |

## Regular season

For the Pool stage, the 16 teams were placed into 2 pools of 8 teams each and a round-robin tournament was played within each of the pools.

Then, for the Group stage, the top 4 teams from each pool went through to Group 1, and the bottom 4 teams from each pool went through to Group 2. The teams were given starting points based on where they finished in their pool. - i.e. starting points of 4, 3, 2, and 1, for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th respectively; and starting points of 4, 3, 2, and 1, for 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th respectively.

Another round-robin was played for each of the groups. The Top League teams in Group 1 ranked 1st to 4th qualified for the title play-offs to fight for the Microsoft Cup and the Top League title. The top 4 also qualified directly into the All-Japan Rugby Football Championship.

The teams in Group 1 ranked 5th to 8th, and teams in Group 2 ranked 1st to 4th went through to the wildcard play-offs for qualification into the All-Japan Rugby Football Championship.

The teams in Group 2 ranked 5th to 7th went through to the promotion and relegation play-offs against regional challengers to fight to remain in the Top League. The team in Group 2 ranked 8th was automatically relegated to the regional leagues for 2014–15.

### Table

**Group stage tables**

Top League - Group Stage :

| Group 1 |||||||||||||||
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| | Club | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Points For | Points Against | Points Difference | Try Bonus | Losing Bonus | Start Points | Points |
| 1 | Panasonic Wild Knights | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 224 | 105 | 119 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 36 |
| 2 | Suntory Sungoliath | 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 261 | 169 | 92 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 32 |
| 3 | Kobelco Steelers | 7 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 223 | 194 | 29 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 24 |
| 4 | Toshiba Brave Lupus | 7 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 181 | 151 | 30 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 23 |
| 5 | Yamaha Júbilo | 7 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 168 | 177 | -9 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 19 |
| 6 | Toyota Verblitz | 7 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 127 | 188 | -61 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 14 |
| 7 | Canon Eagles | 7 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 131 | 251 | -120 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 8 |
| 8 | NEC Green Rockets | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 130 | 210 | -80 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 7 |
| Updated: 19 Jan 2014 Source:The Rugby Archive  • The top 4 teams (Green background) qualify for the title play-offs, and also play in the All-Japan Rugby Football Championship.  • Teams 5 to 8 (Blue background) qualify for the wildcard play-offs for entry into the All-Japan Rugby Football Championship.  • Teams 1st in each pool have 4 starting points. • Teams 2nd in each pool have 3 starting points.  • Teams 3rd in each pool have 2 starting points. • Teams 4th in each pool have 1 starting point. |||||||||||||||
| Group 2 |||||||||||||||
| | Club | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Points For | Points Against | Points Difference | Try Bonus | Losing Bonus | Start Points | Points |
| 1 | Kubota Spears | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 166 | 103 | 63 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 27 |
| 2 | Kintetsu Liners | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 187 | 158 | 29 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 27 |
| 3 | Ricoh Black Rams | 7 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 217 | 150 | 67 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 25 |
| 4 | Toyota Industries Shuttles | 7 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 190 | 195 | -5 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 23 |
| 5 | NTT Com Shining Arcs | 7 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 158 | 210 | -52 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 20 |
| 6 | Coca-Cola West Red Sparks | 7 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 157 | 175 | -18 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 19 |
| 7 | NTT DoCoMo Red Hurricanes | 7 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 152 | 160 | -8 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 14 |
| 8 | Kyuden Voltex | 7 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 157 | 233 | -76 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 12 |
| Updated: 19 Jan 2014 Source:The Rugby Archive  • Teams 1 to 4 (Blue background) qualify for the wildcard play-offs for entry into the All-Japan Rugby Football Championship.  • Teams 5 to 7 (Yellow background) go through to the promotion and relegation play-offs against regional challengers to retain their places in the Top League.  • Team 8 (Red background) is automatically relegated to the regional leagues for 2014–15.  • Teams 5th in each pool have 4 starting points. • Teams 6th in each pool have 3 starting points.  • Teams 7th in each pool have 2 starting points. • Teams 8th in each pool have 1 starting point. |||||||||||||||
| Source:The Rugby Archive 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 |||||||||||||||

**Pool stage tables**

Top League - Pool Stage :

| Pool A |||||||||||||||
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| | Club | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Points For | Points Against | Points Difference | Try Bonus | Losing Bonus | Points |
| 1 | Suntory Sungoliath | 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 245 | 110 | 135 | 5 | 1 | 30 |
| 2 | NEC Green Rockets | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 193 | 138 | 55 | 4 | 1 | 25 |
| 3 | Kobelco Steelers | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 213 | 147 | 66 | 4 | 0 | 24 |
| 4 | Toyota Verblitz | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 142 | 111 | 31 | 1 | 1 | 22 |
| 5 | NTT Com Shining Arcs | 7 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 155 | 175 | -20 | 3 | 0 | 19 |
| 6 | Toyota Industries Shuttles | 7 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 172 | 185 | -13 | 3 | 4 | 11 |
| 7 | NTT DoCoMo Red Hurricanes | 7 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 116 | 208 | -92 | 2 | 0 | 10 |
| 8 | Kyuden Voltex | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 87 | 259 | -162 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Updated: 26 Nov 2013 Source:The Rugby Archive  • Teams 1 to 4 (Blue background) go through to Group 1 in the group stage.  • Teams 5 to 8 (Yellow background) go through to Group 2 in the group stage. |||||||||||||||
| Pool B |||||||||||||||
| | Club | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Points For | Points Against | Points Difference | Try Bonus | Losing Bonus | Points |
| 1 | Panasonic Wild Knights | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 231 | 97 | 134 | 5 | 1 | 28 |
| 2 | Yamaha Júbilo | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 209 | 150 | 59 | 3 | 0 | 25 |
| 3 | Toshiba Brave Lupus | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 164 | 131 | 33 | 3 | 0 | 23 |
| 4 | Canon Eagles | 7 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 187 | 161 | 26 | 2 | 2 | 20 |
| 5 | Kubota Spears | 7 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 169 | 173 | -4 | 3 | 1 | 20 |
| 6 | Kintetsu Liners | 7 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 139 | 167 | -28 | 2 | 3 | 13 |
| 7 | Ricoh Black Rams | 7 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 142 | 196 | -54 | 1 | 2 | 9 |
| 8 | Coca-Cola West Red Sparks | 7 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 125 | 291 | -166 | 3 | 1 | 6 |
| Updated: 26 Nov 2013 Source:The Rugby Archive  • Teams 1 to 4 (Blue background) go through to Group 1 in the group stage.  • Teams 5 to 8 (Yellow background) go through to Group 2 in the group stage. |||||||||||||||
| Source:The Rugby Archive 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

Top 4 sides of the regular season competed in the Microsoft Cup (2014) knock out tournament to fight for the Top League title. The top 4 teams of 2013–14 were Panasonic Wild Knights, Suntory Sungoliath, Kobelco Steelers, and Toshiba Brave Lupus.

### Final

Team details :

Panasonic Wild Knights :

| FB | 15 | Yasutaka Sasakura | 76' |
| - | - | - | - |
| RW | 14 | Tomoki Kitagawa | |
| OC | 13 | Seichi Shimomura |
| IC | 12 | Yasuki Hayashi | 48' |
| LW | 11 | Akihito Yamada |
| FH | 10 | Berrick Barnes |
| SH | 9 | Fumiaki Tanaka | 77' |
| N8 | 8 | Koliniasi Holani | 77' |
| OF | 7 | Tadasuke Nishihara |
| BF | 6 | Sione Vatuvei | 77' |
| RL | 5 | Daniel Heenan | 48' |
| LL | 4 | Yu Young-nam | |
| TP | 3 | Tomokazu Soma | 53' |
| HK | 2 | Shota Horie (c) | |
| LP | 1 | Keita Inagaki |
| Replacements: |||
| HK | 16 | Tetsuya Shitara | 77' |
| PR | 17 | Naoki Kawamata | 55' |
| PR | 18 | Ryusioapelatu Holani | 53' | 55' |
| LK | 19 | Yoichi Ijima | 48' |
| FL | 20 | Daichi Wakamatsu | 77' |
| SH | 21 | Nicholas Ealey | 77' |
| CE | 22 | JP Pietersen | 48' |
| FB | 23 | Takashi Miyake | 76' |
| Coach: |||
| Norifumi Nakajima ||||

Suntory Sungoliath :

| FB | 15 | Go Aruga | 62' |
| - | - | - | - |
| RW | 14 | Murata Daishi |
| OC | 13 | Koji Taira | |
| IC | 12 | Ryan Nicholas | |
| LW | 11 | Kenta Tsukamoto |
| FH | 10 | Kosei Ono | 69' |
| SH | 9 | Fourie Du Preez | 69' |
| N8 | 8 | Ozawa Naoki | 77' |
| OF | 7 | Takamichi Sasaki |
| BF | 6 | George Smith | 73' |
| RL | 5 | Makabe Shinya (c) |
| LL | 4 | Shinozuka Koji |
| TP | 3 | Hatakeyama Kensuke | |
| HK | 2 | Aoki Yusuke | |
| LP | 1 | Kanei Tateo | 73' |
| Replacements: |||
| HK | 16 | Shintaro Ishihara | 73' |
| PR | 17 | Ozaki Akira | |
| PR | 18 | Ikegaya Yosuke | |
| FL | 19 | Takemoto Juntaro | 77' |
| FL | 20 | Hendrik Tui | 73' |
| SH | 21 | Hiwasa Atsushi | 69' |
| CE | 22 | Tusi Pisi | 69' |
| FB | 23 | Nagatomo Yasunori | 62' |
| Coach: |||
| Naoya Okubo ||||

## Wildcard play-offs

The Top League Group 1 teams ranked 5–8 and Group 2 teams ranked 1–4 played off over two rounds, with the second round winners qualifying for the All-Japan Rugby Football Championship.

### Second round

So Yamaha and Toyota advanced to the All-Japan Rugby Football Championship.

## Top League Challenge Series

Fukuoka Sanix Blues won promotion to the 2014–15 Top League via the 2013–14 Top League Challenge Series, while Honda Heat, Mitsubishi Sagamihara DynaBoars and Yokogawa Musashino Atlastars progressed to the promotion play-offs.

## Promotion and relegation play-offs

The Top League teams in Group 2 ranked 5th, 6th, and 7th, played-off against the Challenge 1 teams ranked 4th, 3rd, and 2nd, respectively, for the right to be included in the Top League for the following season.

So Coca-Cola West Red Sparks, NTT Docomo, and NTT remained in the Top League for the next season.

## End-of-season awards

At the end of season awards, Panasonic Wild Knights flyhalf Berrick Barnes was named Top League MVP, a day after helping his side to the league title. He was handed his trophy by Japan coach Eddie Jones.

### Team awards

| Award | Winner |
| - | - |
| Top League winners: | Panasonic Wild Knights |
| Fair Play award: | |
| Best fans: | |

### Individual awards

| Award | Winner |
| - | - |
| Top League MVP: | Berrick Barnes (Panasonic) |
| Rookie award: | Keita Inagaki (Panasonic) and Kyosuke Horie (Yamaha) |
| Most tries: | Jaque Fourie (Kobe Steel) 17 tries |
| Top scorer: | Ryan Nicholas (Suntory) |
| Best kicker: | Ryan Nicholas (Suntory) |
| Best referee: | |
| Playoffs MVP: | |

### Team of the season

| # | Winner |
| - | - |
| 1. | Keita Inagaki (Panasonic) |
| 2. | Shota Horie (Panasonic) |
| 3. | Kensuke Hatakeyama (Suntory) |
| 4. | Hitoshi Ono (Toshiba) |
| 5. | Daniel Heenan (Panasonic) |
| 6. | George Smith (Suntory) |
| 7. | Tadasuke Nishihara (Panasonic) |
| 8. | Kyosuke Horie (Yamaha) |
| 9. | Atsushi Hiwasa (Suntory) |
| 10. | Berrick Barnes (Panasonic) |
| 11. | Akihito Yamada (Panasonic) |
| 12. | Male Sa'u (Yamaha) |
| 13. | Jaque Fourie (Kobe Steel) |
| 14. | Tomoki Kitagawa (Panasonic) |
| 15. | Ayumu Goromaru (Yamaha) |
