The 2015–16 Top League was the 13th season of
Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
's domestic
rugby union
Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...
competition, the
Top League
Japan Rugby League One (), formerly known as 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 ...
. It kicked off on 13 November 2015 and was completed on 24 January 2016.
[ The final was won by ]Panasonic Wild Knights
Saitama Wild Knights (formerly Panasonic Wild Knights) is a Japanese rugby union team formerly based in Ōta, Gunma, Ōta city, Gunma prefecture which played in the Top League. In 2021 it relocated 13 kilometers south to Kumagaya, Saitama, Kumag ...
defeating Toshiba Brave Lupus
Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo is a Japanese rugby union team in the Japan Rugby League One. 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 Mic ...
by 27–26.
A short pre-season competition was also played from 3 September to 10 October 2015 to provide each Top League team with five official matches before the regular season.[
]
Teams
The only change to the make-up of the league was the Challenge One winner 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. Conveniently, the team uses Suzuka to jog ...
replacing Kyuden Voltex.
Format
Owing to the 2015 Rugby World Cup
The IRB 2015 Rugby World Cup was the eighth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial rugby union world championship. The tournament was hosted by England from 18 September to 31 October. Of the 20 countries competing in the World Cup in 2011, there was ...
and Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
's entry into the 2016 Super Rugby tournament, the 2015–16 Top League format was altered from the previous year.
;Pre-season league
A pre-season competition was staged to provide each Top League team with five matches before the regular season. In the first stage, played from 3–19 September, the 16 teams were placed into 4 pools of 4 teams each and a round-robin was played within each pool.[
For the second stage, played from 3–10 October, the top teams in each pool were bracketed together to determine the pre-season competition winner. Semifinals and a consolation final and final were played to decide positions 1 to 4. The second-ranked teams in each pool played off for positions 5 to 8, the third-ranked teams played off for positions 9 to 12, and the bottom teams from each pool played off for positions 13 to 16.][
;Regular season
For the Pool stage, the 16 teams were placed into 2 pools of 8 teams each and a round-robin was played within each of the pools. At the conclusion of the pool stage, the top 4 sides in each pool advanced to the title play-offs to determine the Top League champion and the final classification positions 1 to 8. Similarly, the bottom 4 sides in each pool went on to the lower bracket play-offs to determine the final classification positions 9 to 16.
]
Preseason
Standings
Preseason play-offs
Fourth bracket
Third bracket
Second bracket
Notes:
Panasonic forfeited their semifinal. NTT Docomo gained the walk over.
Panasonic forfeited the 7th place final. Kintetsu gained the walk over.
First bracket
Regular season
Standings
Pool stage
Round 1
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Round 2
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Round 3
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Round 4
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Round 5
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Round 6
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Round 7
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Lower bracket play-offs
Lower quarterfinals
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Play-offs 9th–12th and 13th–16th
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Classification finals
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Title play-offs
Quarterfinals
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Semifinals and play-offs 5th–8th
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Classification finals
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Final
All-Japan qualification
The 2016 All-Japan Rugby Football Championship
The All-Japan Rugby Football Championship (日本ラグビーフットボール選手権大会 ''Nihon Ragubi- Futtobo-ru Senshuken Taikai'') is played at the end of the season and is doubling as the title playoff in the Top League. The first champ ...
took place as a one-off final match played between the respective winners of the Japanese Top League
Japan Rugby League One (), formerly known as 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 ...
competition and the All-Japan University Rugby Championship. The match will be played at the Chichibunomiya Stadium in Tokyo on 31 January 2016.[
The abbreviated format was chosen due to the busy schedule for Japanese Rugby which included the ]2015 Rugby World Cup
The IRB 2015 Rugby World Cup was the eighth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial rugby union world championship. The tournament was hosted by England from 18 September to 31 October. Of the 20 countries competing in the World Cup in 2011, there was ...
as well as Asian qualification for the 2016 Olympics
The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...
and the introduction of a Japanese Super Rugby
Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It has previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Super Rugby started as the S ...
team.[
]
Top League Challenge Series
Kyuden Voltex, 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 ...
, Munakata Sanix Blues and Osaka Police 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
End-of-season awards
Team of the season
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:2014-15 Top League
Japan Rugby League One
Top League
Japan Rugby League One (), formerly known as 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 ...
Top League
Japan Rugby League One (), formerly known as 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 ...