2008–09 Top League

2008-09 Top League

Champions Toshiba Brave Lupus
Round-Robin
Duration: 5 September 2008 - 18 January 2009
Semifinals
Date: 1 February 2009

Toshiba Brave Lupus 26 Kobe Steelers 7

Sanyo Wild Knights 32 Suntory Sungoliath 22
Grand Final
Date: 8 February 2009

Toshiba Brave Lupus 17 Sanyo Wild Knights 6
Other Seasons
2009-10 • 2008-09 • 2007-08 • 2006-07

The Top League is a semi-professional rugby union competition which is played in Japan. The Top League is at the top of the national league system in Japan, with promotion and relegation between the Top League and the next level down. The 2008-09 season was the sixth season of the Top League since the first season in 2003-04.

Contents

Pre-season

Kintetsu Liners returned to the league, and Yokogawa Denki were promoted for the first time (and renamed Yokogawa Musashino Atlastars in the off season). They replaced Ricoh Black Rams and Mitsubishi Dynaboars.

Teams

Team Region
Coca Cola West Red Sparks Fukuoka, Kyushu
Fukuoka Sanix Blues Fukuoka, Kyushu
IBM Big Blue Chiba, Kanto
Kintetsu Liners Osaka, Kansai
Kobe Steel Kobelco Steelers Hyogo, Kansai
Kubota Spears Chiba, Kanto
Kyuden Voltex Fukuoka, Kyushu
NEC Green Rockets Chiba, Kanto
Sanyo Wild Knights Gunma, Kanto
Suntory Sungoliath Tokyo, Kanto
Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo, Kanto
Toyota Verblitz Aichi, Tokai
Yamaha Jubilo Shizuoka, Tokai
Yokogawa Musashino Atlastars Tokyo, Kanto

Final standings

Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts
1 Toshiba Brave Lupus 13 12 0 1 563 211 +352 59
2 Sanyo Wild Knights 13 12 0 1 584 197 +387 58
3 Suntory Sungoliath 13 10 0 3 482 298 +184 51
4 Kobe Steelers 13 9 0 4 358 300 +58 43
5 NEC Green Rockets 13 8 0 5 298 309 −11 37
6 Kubota Spears 13 8 0 5 309 334 −25 37
7 Yamaha Jubilo 13 7 0 6 344 304 +40 35
8 Toyota Verblitz 13 6 0 7 310 286 +24 31
9 Kintetsu Liners 13 5 0 8 319 348 −29 28
10 Coca Cola Red Sparks 13 6 0 7 273 353 −80 26
11 Fukuoka Sanix Blues 13 3 0 10 266 442 −176 21
12 Kyuden Voltex 13 3 0 10 345 451 −106 18
13 IBM Big Blue 13 1 0 12 222 496 −274 8
14 Yokogawa Musashino Atlastars 13 1 0 12 230 574 −344 8

Table notes

Top 10 Points Scorers

Player Team Pts T C PG DG
1 David Hill Toshiba Brave Lupus 226 11 60 17 0
2 Ryan Nicholas Suntory Sungoliath 158 5 41 17 0
3 Shane Drahm Kubota Spears 136 1 16 31 2
4 Yasumasa Shigemitsu Kintetsu Liners 123 5 22 18 0
5 Thinus Delport Kobe Steelers 122 4 18 22 0
6 Genki Saito Kyuden Voltex 117 2 28 16 1
6 Tadanobu Ko IBM Big Blue 117 2 22 20 1
8 Masakazu Irie Sanyo Wild Knights 114 3 33 11 0
9 Ayumu Goromaru Yamaha Jubilo 98 4 15 16 0
10 Daisuke Haradome Coca Cola West Red Sparks 88 4 16 12 0

Table notes

Awards

Best XV

Position Name Team
1 PR Hisateru Nirashima Kobe Steelers
2 HO Yusuke Aoki Suntory Sungoliath
3 PR Kensuke Hatakeyama Suntory Sungoliath
4 LO Hitoshi Ono Toshiba Brave Lupus
5 LO Daniel Heenan Sanyo Wild Knights
6 FL Steven Bates Toshiba Brave Lupus
7 FL Reuben Thorne Yamaha Jubilo
8 No.8 Ryukoliniasi Holani Sanyo Wild Knights
9 SH Fumiaki Tanaka Sanyo Wild Knights
10 SO David Hill Toshiba Brave Lupus
11 WTB Hirotoki Onozawa Suntory Sungoliath
12 CTB Ryan Nicholas Suntory Sungoliath
13 CTB Seiichi Shimonura Sanyo Wild Knights
14 WTB Tomoki Kitagawa Sanyo Wild Knights
15 FB Hiroki Yoshida Toshiba Brave Lupus

Table Notes

External links

Current Teams
Former Teams
Seasons
Governing body
National teams
Competitions
Major figures
Related articles
Top-level rugby union club competitions
Continental - Transnational
First tier leagues (Europe)
First tier leagues (outside Europe)