2014–15 Top League
The 2014–15 Top League was the 12th season of Japan's domestic rugby union competition, the Top League. It kicked off on 30 August 2014. The final was held on 8 February 2015 and won by Panasonic Wild Knights, 30–12 over Yamaha Júbilo. Teams The only change to the make-up of the league was the Top Kyushu champion team Fukuoka Sanix replacing Kyuden Voltex. 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 i ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Lixil Cup
The Top League Championship is Japan's highest-level knockout tournament for rugby union clubs. Held annually, the leading teams from the Top League regular season qualify for the playoffs to decide the Cup title. From 2018 onward, the All-Japan Rugby Football Championship has doubled as the Top League Championship Cup. Previously, teams competed for the Lixil Cup, from 2014 to 2016, and Microsoft Cup (prior to 2009). The Top League competition is a Japanese industrial league that presently consists of sixteen teams, all owned by major companies. 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 until the 2016–17 season the winner of t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Zane Hilton
Zane Hilton (born 1981) is an Australian professional rugby union coach. He is currently an assistant coach of the Super Rugby team the Melbourne Rebels. He was appointed as head coach of the Melbourne Rising team in Australia's National Rugby Championship in 2015. Hilton began his rugby coaching career as manager of the Regional College for the Queensland Reds from 2002 to 2006. He was an assistant coach at Italian club Benetton in Treviso for the 2006–07 season and at University of Queensland for 2007 and 2008. Hilton then joined Brothers for two seasons, winning the Queensland Premier Rugby competition in his first year as head coach in 2009. He re-located to Japan in 2011 for four years, coaching at Kyuden Voltex and Canon Eagles including a season at each club as head coach. After returning home to Australia, Hilton was contracted as the forwards coach for the Melbourne Rebels in Super Rugby for the 2015 season. He was appointed as head coach of the Melbourne Rising fo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Kansai
The or the , lies in the southern-central region of Japan's main island Honshu, Honshū. The region includes the Prefectures of Japan, prefectures of Nara Prefecture, Nara, Wakayama Prefecture, Wakayama, Kyoto Prefecture, Kyoto, Osaka Prefecture, Osaka, Hyōgo Prefecture, Hyōgo and Shiga Prefecture, Shiga, often also Mie Prefecture, Mie, sometimes Fukui Prefecture, Fukui, Tokushima Prefecture, Tokushima and Tottori Prefecture, Tottori. The metropolitan region of Osaka, Kobe and Kyoto (Keihanshin region) is the second-most populated in Japan after the Greater Tokyo Area. Name The terms , , and have their roots during the Asuka period. When the old provinces of Japan were established, several provinces in the area around the then-capital Kyoto were collectively named Kinai and Kinki, both roughly meaning "the neighbourhood of the capital". Kansai (literally ''west of the tollgate'') in its original usage refers to the land west of the Osaka Tollgate (), the border between Yam ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Kintetsu Liners
Hanazono Kintetsu Liners rugby team are a Japanese rugby union team owned by Kintetsu Corporation which was founded in 1929. They have won the All-Japan Championship three times as an amateur team. Their home is at Hanazono Rugby Stadium in Higashiosaka, Japan, which was also opened in 1929. Early in 2008 Kintetsu won promotion back to the Top League for the 2008-9 season, and it was announced that former All Blacks coach Peter Sloane would be head coach. After 3 years with Peter Sloane, Ryusuke Maeda become head coach in 2011. The team rebranded as Hanazono Kintetsu Liners ahead of the rebranding of the Top League to the Japan Rugby League One in 2022. Honours * All-Japan Championship ** Champions: 1966, 1967, 1974 ** Runner-up: 1961(NHK Cup), 1963 * Company Championship ** Champions: 1953, 1956, 1957, 1961, 1966, 1967, 1969, 1974 ** Runner-up: 1948, 1951, 1955, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1963, 1965, 1973 History Early Periods In 1927, this team was founded by some employees of ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Eito Tamura
Eito is a village in the northeastern part of the island of Santo Antão, Cape Verde, part of the municipality of Paul. It is situated 1 km southwest of Pombas, 2 km northeast of Figueiral and 15 km northeast of the island capital Porto Novo Porto-Novo (Portuguese: "New Port", , ; yo, Àjàṣẹ́, ), also known as Hogbonu and Ajashe, is the capital of Benin. The commune covers an area of and as of 2002 had a population of 223,552 people. Situated on an inlet of the Gulf of Gu .... Its population was 979 in 2010. See also * List of villages and settlements in Cape Verde References {{Authority control Villages and settlements in Santo Antão, Cape Verde Paul, Cape Verde ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Fukuoka, Fukuoka
is the sixth-largest city in Japan, the second-largest port city after Yokohama, and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center of international commerce since ancient times. The area has long been considered the gateway to the country, as it is the nearest point among Japan's main islands to the Asian mainland. Although humans occupied the area since the Jomon period, some of the earliest settlers of the Yayoi period arrived in the Fukuoka area. The city rose to prominence during the Yamato period. Because of the cross-cultural exposure, and the relatively great distance from the social and political centers of Kyoto, Osaka, and later, Edo (Tokyo), Fukuoka gained a distinctive local culture and dialect that has persisted to the present. Fukuoka is the most populous city on Kyūshū island, followed by Kitakyushu. It is the largest city and metropolitan area west of Keihanshin. The city was des ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Fukuoka Sanix Blues
, formerly ''Fukuoka Sanix Blues'' and ''Fukuoka Sanix Bombs'', was a Japanese rugby union team based in Munakata, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. Founded in April 1994 (Heisei 6), the team rose rapidly through the Kyūshū leagues and was in the Top League for the first season (2003-4) as Kyūshū's sole representative, but lost a relegation battle with Kintetsu Liners 42-45 and was demoted. But Sanix managed to return to the Top League for the 2005-6 season, beating Secom Rugguts and Toyota Jido Shokki in the Top League Challenge Series 2005. In March 2022, Sanix Inc., the operators of the club, announced the disbandment of the team following the conclusion of the 2022 Japan Rugby League One season. Current squad The Munakata Sanix Blues squad for the 2022 season was: Former players *Graeme Bachop *Jamie Joseph * John Leslie *Matua Parkinson - blindside flanker *Bad Luck Fale * Damian Karauna - utility backuben Parkinson - centre *Jacques Potgieter - flank Home ground * G ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Masakazu Toyota
Masakazu is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: * Imafuku Masakazu (died 1582), Japanese samurai of the Sengoku period who served the Takeda clan *Kobori Masakazu (1579–1647), artist and aristocrat in the reign of Tokugawa Ieyasu *Masakazu Fujiwara (born 1981), Japanese long-distance runner who specializes in the marathon *Masakazu Fukuda (1972–2000), Japanese professional wrestler *Masakazu Imanari (born 1976), Japanese mixed martial arts fighter best known for his leglocks *, Japanese cyclist *Masakazu Kagiyama (born 1971), Japanese figure skater who is now a coach * Masakazu Katsura (born 1962), Japanese manga artist * Masakazu Kawabe (1886–1965), general in the Imperial Japanese Army *Masakazu Koda (born 1969), former Japanese football player *Masakazu Kondō, Japanese shogi player *Masakazu Konishi was a Japanese neurobiologist, known for his research on the neuroscience underlying the behavior of owls and songbirds. Early life and ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Akihiro Usui
Akihiro (written: , , , , , , , , 明広, , , , , , , , , , , or ) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese footballer *, Japanese volleyball player *, Japanese mixed martial artist *Akihiro Higuchi, Ukrainian-born film director known by his alias Higuchinsky *, Japanese video game designer and businessman *, Japanese footballer *, Japanese footballer *, Japanese-born American mathematician *, Japanese artistic gymnast *, Japanese actor and director *, Japanese artist *, Japanese ''daimyō'' *, Japanese singer, drag queen, director, composer and writer *, Japanese shogi player *, Japanese mixed martial artist *, Japanese footballer *, Japanese politician *, Japanese footballer and manager *, Japanese footballer *, Japanese sport shooter *, Japanese footballer *, Japanese footballer *Akihiro Sato (model), Brazilian model *, Japanese biathlete *Akihiro Tsukiyama, birth name of Lee Myung-Bak Lee Myung-bak (; ; ; born 19 December 1941) i ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Kyūshū
is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surrounding islands. Kyushu has a land area of and a population of 14,311,224 in 2018. In the 8th-century Taihō Code reforms, Dazaifu was established as a special administrative term for the region. Geography The island is mountainous, and Japan's most active volcano, Mount Aso at , is on Kyushu. There are many other signs of tectonic activity, including numerous areas of hot springs. The most famous of these are in Beppu, on the east shore, and around Mt. Aso in central Kyushu. The island is separated from Honshu by the Kanmon Straits. Being the nearest island to the Asian continent, historically it is the gateway to Japan. The total area is which makes it the 37th largest island in the world. It's slightly larger than Taiwan island . ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |