The 2006–07 Top League was the fourth season of

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

's domestic

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

competition, the

Top League Japan Rugby League One (formerly the Top League) is a rugby union competition in Japan. It is the highest level of professional rugby competition in the country. The Japan Rugby Football Union created the competition in 2003, by absorbing the ...

. 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 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-Japa ...

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 Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo is a Japanese rugby union team in the Top League. They are based in Fuchu, Tokyo, as is their local rival Suntory Sungoliath. They won the second ever Top League championship in the 2004-5 season and the Microsoft Cup i ...

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.

Regular season

Final standings

Fixtures and results

Title play-offs

The top four teams in the league were Toshiba, Suntory, Yamaha, and Toyota. They played in the

(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

which also won the All-Japan Championship.

Semi-finals

---- ---- ----

Final

---- ----

Top League Challenge Series

Kyuden Voltex Kyuden Voltex is a Japanese rugby team owned by Kyushu Electric Power Co. (Kyūshū Denryoku). The nickname "Voltex" is a conflation of "Voltage" and "Techniques" and was decided after the team won promotion to the Top League. The team is based ...

and

Mitsubishi Sagamihara DynaBoars also known as Mitsubishi Juko Sagamihara Rugby Club, are a Japanese rugby union team based in Sagamihara, Kanagawa, Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. The owner of this club is Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. The club was founded in 1981. It ...

won promotion to the

2007–08 Top League The 2007–08 Top League was the fifth season of Japan's domestic rugby union competition, the Top League. The Sanyo Wild Knights became the first ever team in the Top League to win all their league games, but were defeated for the Top League ti ...

via the 2007 Top League Challenge Series, while

Honda Heat Mie Honda Heat is a Japanese rugby union team based in Suzuka City, Mie Prefecture, Japan. The owner of the club is Honda Motor. (Suzuka is known for the Suzuka Circuit and the presence of car companies.) They play in the Japan Rugby League One, ...

and

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 Hig ...

progressed to the

promotion play-offs Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

Promotion and relegation play-offs

Two promotion/relegation matches ''(Irekaesen)'' were played with the winners qualifying for the

. 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.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Top League Japan top league 2006–07 in Japanese rugby union 2006-07