Top League Champions Cup
Lixil Cup | |
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![]() Top League Champions
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Sport | Rugby union football |
Formerly known as | Microsoft Cup |
Inaugural season | 2004 |
Number of teams | 4 |
Country | Japan |
Holders | Panasonic Wild Knights (3rd title) (2015) |
Most titles | Toshiba Brave Lupus (5 titles) |
Website | www.top-league.jp |
The Top League Champions Cup, known as the Lixil Cup and previously the Microsoft Cup, is a rugby union knockout tournament held annually in Japan to determine the Top League championship title. The Top League is the highest level of rugby competition in Japan and is an industrial league that presently consists of sixteen teams, all owned by major companies. The building materials supplier Lixil is the current naming rights partner.[1]
Initially sponsored by Microsoft Japan, the knockout tournament was first contested by the top eight teams from the Top League in 2004. It was considered a separate competition to the Top League for the first three seasons but was officially integrated for the 2006–07 season. The number of teams was also cut to four to give a format of two semi-finals and a final, and from that time onward the winner of the knockout cup was recognised as the Top League champion.
Contents
Overall
Summary totals for all Top League championships up to and including 2015:
Team | Championships | Runners-up | Semi-final losses | Minor premierships |
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5 | 2 | 4 | 5 |
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3 | 4 | 3^ | 3 |
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3 | 3 | 2+ | 2 |
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1* | 0 | 4^ | 3 |
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0 | 2 | 1+ | 0 |
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0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
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0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
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0* | 0 | 2 | 0 |
Notes:
* NEC won the 2004 Microsoft Cup but Kobe Steel was the Top League champion. These were separate competitions prior to 2007.
^ The 2004 Kobe Steel and Sanyo (Panasonic) semi-final appearances are included, although that cup was not part of the championship.
+ Yamaha was 3rd and Suntory 4th in the 2003–04 Top League championship, but these results are not counted as semi-final appearances.
Tournaments
Teams listed are those that qualified from the Top League for the title play-offs in each season. Results of the play-offs are written so that the score of the team in each row is mentioned first.
Legend | |||
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Cup winner (knockout play-offs). |
Pos = Log Position, P = Games Played, W = Games Won, D = Games Drawn, L = Games Lost, PF = Points For, PA = Points Against, Diff = Points Difference, TB = Try Bonus Points, LB = Losing Bonus Points, SP = Starting Points for Group Stage, Pts = Log Points, Semi = Semi-final, Refs = References | ||
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Top League title winner. |
2014 onward
Since the start of the 2013–14 season, the Top League tournament has been contested by sixteen teams. The top four advance to the play-offs to compete for the Top League Champions Cup.
For the initial league stage, the teams are placed into two pools of eight and a round-robin tournament played within each. The top four from each pool are placed into Group 1 to compete for title play-off positions, and the bottom four are placed into Group 2 to compete to avoid relegation.
The teams are given starting points based on where they finish in their pool - i.e. starting points of 4, 3, 2, or 1, for 1st through 4th respectively; and 4, 3, 2, or 1, for 5th through 8th respectively. After the second round-robin stage, the top four teams from Group 1 progress to the Top League title play-offs.
From the 2014–15 season, the knockout competition was named the Lixil Cup under a new commercial partnership.
Year | Cup period | Pos | Team | Top League regular season | Cup play-off results | Refs | ||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pts | P | W | D | L | PF | PA | Diff | TB | LB | SP | Qtr | Semi | Final | |||||
2016 | 9 January to 24 January |
1A | Panasonic Wild Knights | 31 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 290 | 137 | 153 | 5 | 0 | – | [2] | |||
1B | Yamaha Jubilo | 29 | 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 226 | 140 | 86 | 5 | 0 | – | ||||||
2A | Toshiba Brave Lupus | 26 | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 253 | 100 | 153 | 4 | 0 | – | ||||||
2B | Kobelco Steelers | 27 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 235 | 137 | 98 | 5 | 2 | – | ||||||
3A | Kintetsu Liners | 23 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 189 | 193 | -4 | 3 | 0 | – | ||||||
3B | Toyota Verblitz | 26 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 203 | 125 | 78 | 5 | 1 | – | ||||||
4A | NTT Shining Arcs | 22 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 190 | 142 | 48 | 4 | 2 | – | ||||||
4B | Canon Eagles | 25 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 196 | 142 | 54 | 4 | 1 | – | ||||||
2015 | 24 January to 1 February |
1 | Kobe Steelers | 29 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 242 | 113 | +129 | 4 | 1 | 4 | — | 12–41 | — | [3] |
2 | Panasonic Wild Knights![]() |
29 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 218 | 131 | +87 | 5 | 0 | 4 | — | 50–15 | 30–12 | |||
3 | Toshiba Brave Lupus | 28 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 213 | 147 | +66 | 4 | 1 | 3 | — | 15–50 | — | |||
4 | Yamaha Júbilo | 27 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 165 | 134 | +31 | 4 | 1 | 2 | — | 41–12 | 12–30 | |||
2014 | 1 February to 9 February |
1 | Panasonic Wild Knights![]() |
36 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 224 | 105 | 119 | 4 | 0 | 4 | — | 55–15 | 45–22 | [4] |
2 | Suntory Sungoliath | 32 | 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 261 | 169 | 92 | 4 | 0 | 4 | — | 27–19 | 22–45 | |||
3 | Kobe Steelers | 24 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 223 | 194 | 29 | 5 | 1 | 2 | — | 19–27 | — | |||
4 | Toshiba Brave Lupus | 23 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 181 | 151 | 30 | 2 | 3 | 2 | — | 15–55 | — |
Competition rules | |||
---|---|---|---|
Points breakdown: * 4 points for a win * 2 points for a draw * 1 bonus point for a loss by seven points or less * 1 bonus point for scoring four or more tries in a match * 4, 3, 2, or 1 starting points in the group stage for 1st through 4th respectively in the pool stage Classification: |
2007 to 2013
For the 2006–07 season the tournament was expanded to fourteen teams and the Top League and Microsoft Cup competitions were combined. Only the top four teams on the regular season table progressed to title play-offs and the winner of the knockout competition was awarded both the Microsoft Cup and the Top League title.
Video referee (TMO) decisions were introduced for the 2009 Cup series. The naming rights partnership with Microsoft for the knockout competition ended after the 2009 Cup final. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Year | Cup period | Pos | Team | Top League regular season | Play-off results | Refs | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pts | P | W | D | L | PF | PA | Diff | TB | LB | Semi | Final | |||||
2009 | 17 February to 24 February |
1 | Toshiba Brave Lupus![]() |
59 | 13 | 12 | 0 | 1 | 563 | 211 | +352 | 11 | 0 | 26–7 | 17–6 | [5] |
2 | Sanyo Wild Knights | 58 | 13 | 12 | 0 | 1 | 584 | 197 | +387 | 10 | 0 | 32–22 | 6–17 | |||
3 | Suntory Sungoliath | 51 | 13 | 10 | 0 | 3 | 482 | 298 | +184 | 10 | 1 | 22–32 | — | |||
4 | Kobe Steelers | 43 | 13 | 9 | 0 | 4 | 358 | 300 | +58 | 5 | 2 | 6–27 | — | |||
2008 | 17 February to 24 February |
1 | Sanyo Wild Knights | 63 | 13 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 593 | 170 | +423 | 11 | 0 | 25–21 | 10–14 | [6] |
2 | Suntory Sungoliath![]() |
53 | 13 | 10 | 1 | 2 | 453 | 229 | +224 | 10 | 1 | 33–10 | 14–10 | |||
3 | Toyota Verblitz | 50 | 13 | 9 | 1 | 3 | 452 | 269 | +183 | 9 | 3 | 10–33 | — | |||
4 | Toshiba Brave Lupus | 47 | 13 | 10 | 1 | 2 | 398 | 263 | +135 | 5 | 2 | 21–25 | — | |||
2007 | 28 January to 4 February |
1 | Toshiba Brave Lupus![]() |
60 | 13 | 12 | 0 | 1 | 502 | 234 | 268 | 11 | 1 | 38–35 | 14–13 | [7] |
2 | Suntory Sungoliath | 56 | 13 | 11 | 0 | 2 | 545 | 161 | 384 | 10 | 2 | 40–39 | 13–14 | |||
3 | Yamaha Jubilo | 48 | 13 | 10 | 1 | 2 | 379 | 306 | 73 | 5 | 1 | 39–40 | — | |||
4 | Toyota Verblitz | 47 | 13 | 9 | 0 | 4 | 448 | 267 | 181 | 8 | 3 | 35–38 | — |
Competition rules | |||
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Points breakdown: * 4 points for a win * 2 points for a draw * 1 bonus point for a loss by seven points or less * 1 bonus point for scoring four or more tries in a match Classification: |
2004 to 2006
For the first three seasons the competition format was a single round-robin tournament contested by twelve teams, with the team finishing top of the table winning the Top League title. The Microsoft Cup was a separate knockout competition for the top eight teams in the league.
Year | Cup period | Pos | Team | Top League regular season | Play-off results | Refs | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pts | P | W | D | L | PF | PA | Diff | TB | LB | Qtr | Semi | Final | |||||
2006 | 22 January to 5 February |
1 | Toshiba Brave Lupus![]() |
46 | 11 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 406 | 193 | 213 | 10 | 0 | 38–7 | 23–10 | 33–18 | [8] |
2 | Sanyo Wild Knights | 42 | 11 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 416 | 276 | 140 | 6 | 0 | 24–40 | — | — | |||
3 | NEC Green Rockets | 41 | 11 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 270 | 136 | 134 | 4 | 1 | 17–12 | 10–23 | — | |||
4 | Toyota Verblitz | 37 | 11 | 7 | 0 | 4 | 431 | 263 | 168 | 6 | 3 | 12–17 | — | — | |||
5 | Kobe Steelers | 33 | 11 | 7 | 0 | 4 | 284 | 225 | 59 | 4 | 1 | 7–38 | — | — | |||
6 | Suntory Sungoliath | 32 | 11 | 6 | 0 | 5 | 308 | 241 | 67 | 6 | 2 | 35–17 | 44–25 | 18–33 | |||
7 | Yamaha Jubilo | 28 | 11 | 5 | 0 | 6 | 328 | 211 | 117 | 4 | 4 | 17–35 | — | — | |||
8 | Kubota Spears | 23 | 11 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 324 | 297 | 27 | 5 | 0 | 40–24 | 25–44 | — | |||
2005 | 8 February to 28 February |
1 | Toshiba Brave Lupus![]() |
50 | 11 | 10 | 0 | 1 | 463 | 166 | 297 | 9 | 1 | 33–13 | 41–0 | 20–6α | [9] |
2 | Yamaha Jubilo | 45 | 11 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 380 | 218 | 162 | 8 | 1 | 38–33 | 33–33β | 6–20α | |||
3 | NEC Green Rockets | 44 | 11 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 407 | 253 | 154 | 7 | 1 | 16–51γ | — | — | |||
4 | Toyota Verblitz | 43 | 11 | 8 | 0 | 3 | 427 | 224 | 203 | 9 | 2 | 42–21 | 33–33β | — | |||
5 | Kobe Steelers | 34 | 11 | 6 | 0 | 5 | 326 | 356 | -30 | 8 | 2 | 51–16γ | 0–41 | — | |||
6 | Kubota Spears | 27 | 11 | 5 | 0 | 6 | 277 | 334 | -57 | 6 | 1 | 33–38 | — | — | |||
7 | Sanyo Wild Knights | 24 | 11 | 4 | 0 | 7 | 346 | 296 | 50 | 4 | 4 | 21–41 | — | — | |||
8 | Suntory Sungoliath | 24 | 11 | 4 | 0 | 7 | 307 | 282 | 25 | 4 | 4 | 13–33 | — | — | |||
2004 | 8 February to 22 February |
1 | Kobe Steelersδ![]() |
47 | 11 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 439 | 286 | 153 | 11 | 0 | 35–27 | 10–34 | — | [10] |
2 | Toshiba Brave Lupus | 44 | 11 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 503 | 283 | 220 | 9 | 1 | 39–10 | 36–34 | 19–24 | |||
3 | Yamaha Jubilo | 42 | 11 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 334 | 223 | 111 | 6 | 0 | 10–39 | — | — | |||
4 | Suntory Sungoliath | 42 | 11 | 8 | 0 | 3 | 408 | 265 | 143 | 9 | 1 | 5–32 | — | — | |||
5 | World Fighting Bull | 32 | 11 | 6 | 0 | 5 | 349 | 285 | 64 | 7 | 1 | 27–35 | — | — | |||
6 | NEC Green Rocketsδ | 30 | 11 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 411 | 274 | 137 | 6 | 0 | 32–5 | 34–10 | 24–19 | |||
7 | Sanyo Wild Knights | 24 | 11 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 319 | 331 | -12 | 6 | 0 | 39–32 | 34–36 | — | |||
8 | Kubota Spears | 22 | 11 | 4 | 0 | 9 | 262 | 362 | -100 | 4 | 2 | 32–39 | — | — |
Competition rules | |||
---|---|---|---|
Points breakdown: * 4 points for a win * 2 points for a draw * 1 bonus point for a loss by seven points or less * 1 bonus point for scoring four or more tries in a match Classification: |
Notes:
^α Toshiba Brave Lupus won the Top League and Microsoft Cup double.[11]
^β The number of tries and goals being equal, the result was decided in favour of Yamaha over Toyota by a lottery at Hanazono after the game.
^γ Reigning Microsoft Cup holders the NEC Green Rockets were knocked out at the quarter final stage.[12][13]
^δ In 2003–04, Kobe Steel won the Top League but NEC won the Microsoft Cup. The League and Cup were separate competitions prior to 2007.
See also
- Top League
- All-Japan Rugby Football Championship
- Japan Rugby Football Union
- Japan national rugby union team
References
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External links
- JRFU Official Site (in English)
- Top League Official Site (in Japanese)
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