# 2023–24 Japan Rugby League One – Division 1

The 2023–24 Japan Rugby League One – Division 1 season is the thirteenth top flight league season played from December 2023 through to May 2024, in the newly rebranded Japan Rugby League One. The competition consisted of twelve teams, including one promoted team from Division 2, the Mie Heat.

## Format

The format and schedule was announced on 6 September 2023. It will consist of a round-robin fixture, before entering into a knockout style play-off for the final four teams. It featured two conferences (A, B). Teams in each conference played the teams in their respective conference twice (one at home, one away), and six matches against all the teams in the other conference, three being at home and three away. Each team played a total of sixteen seasonal fixtures, plus additional play-off matches, including relegation play-offs.

## Ladder

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | TF | TA | TB | LB | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Saitama Wild Knights | 16 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 747 | 275 | +472 | 106 | 39 | 11 | 0 | 75 | Qualification for Play-off Semi-finals |
| 2 | Brave Lupus Tokyo (C) | 16 | 14 | 1 | 1 | 554 | 373 | +181 | 81 | 49 | 7 | 0 | 65 | Qualification for Play-off Semi-finals |
| 3 | Tokyo Sungoliath | 16 | 10 | 1 | 5 | 584 | 425 | +159 | 83 | 58 | 5 | 3 | 50 | Qualification for Play-off Semi-finals |
| 4 | Yokohama Eagles | 16 | 10 | 0 | 6 | 518 | 446 | +72 | 75 | 63 | 6 | 3 | 49 | Qualification for Play-off Semi-finals |
| 5 | Kobe Steelers | 16 | 9 | 1 | 6 | 647 | 459 | +188 | 89 | 59 | 5 | 2 | 45 | |
| 6 | Spears Tokyo Bay | 16 | 8 | 1 | 7 | 554 | 447 | +107 | 78 | 63 | 5 | 5 | 44 | |
| 7 | Toyota Verblitz | 16 | 9 | 0 | 7 | 498 | 450 | +48 | 72 | 59 | 5 | 2 | 43 | |
| 8 | Shizuoka Blue Revs | 16 | 6 | 2 | 8 | 501 | 513 | −12 | 71 | 76 | 3 | 2 | 33 | |
| 9 | Sagamihara DynaBoars | 16 | 6 | 0 | 10 | 457 | 637 | −180 | 62 | 93 | 0 | 3 | 27 | |
| 10 | Black Rams Tokyo (O) | 16 | 3 | 0 | 13 | 321 | 503 | −182 | 46 | 69 | 1 | 4 | 17 | Qualification for relegation play-offs |
| 11 | Mie Heat (O) | 16 | 1 | 0 | 15 | 242 | 744 | −502 | 32 | 112 | 0 | 3 | 7 | Qualification for relegation play-offs |
| 12 | Hanazono Liners (R) | 16 | 1 | 0 | 15 | 353 | 704 | −351 | 51 | 102 | 0 | 2 | 6 | Qualification for relegation play-offs |

## Fixtures

Each team will play five teams twice and six teams once for a total of sixteen home and away matches.
| Home \ Away | BRT | BLT | HL | KS | MH | SDB | SWK | SBR | STB | TSG | TV | YE |
| Black Rams Tokyo | — | | | | | | 26–50 | 29–36 | | | 18–45 | |
| Brave Lupus Tokyo | 40–33 | — | | 40–40 | 40–12 | 41–19 | | 43–30 | 24–20 | 36–27 | | 27–7 |
| Hanazono Liners | 34–23 | 32–50 | — | | 19–20 | 36–46 | 0–49 | | 19–56 | | 14–47 | 33–52 |
| Kobe Steelers | | 39–46 | 60–17 | — | 80–15 | | 18–28 | 63–19 | 34–38 | 27–36 | 57–22 | |
| Mie Heat | 14–24 | 7–8 | | 31–33 | — | 26–31 | | 13–62 | 0–75 | 16–34 | | 21–50 |
| Sagamihara DynaBoars | 24–31 | | 30–29 | 14–43 | | — | 21–81 | 53–45 | | | 20–34 | 35–40 |
| Saitama Wild Knights | 44–17 | 36–24 | 33–24 | | | 53–12 | — | | | 24–20 | 43–27 | 53–12 |
| Shizuoka Blue Revs | | 20–59 | | 26–30 | 43–14 | | 19–45 | — | 31–31 | 25–29 | 24–8 | |
| Spears Tokyo Bay | | 20–22 | | 39–29 | 61–24 | 28–34 | 22–55 | 19–23 | — | 26–52 | 27–31 | |
| Tokyo Sungoliath | 62–0 | 19–26 | 34–14 | 44–36 | 60–10 | | | 31–31 | 26–45 | — | | 35–37 |
| Toyota Verblitz | 15–8 | | 47–30 | | 54–7 | 54–40 | 7–40 | | | 38–39 | — | 35–31 |
| Yokohama Eagles | 24–8 | | 66–26 | | | 43–19 | 14–43 | 34–17 | 26–29 | | 24–22 | — |

## Promotion/Relegation play-offs

The relegation play-offs will take place in May 2024.

### Overview

| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| (D1) Black Rams Tokyo | 95–21 | Green Rockets Tokatsu (D2) | 40–21 | 55–0 |
| (D1) Mie Heat | 72–63 | Shuttles Aichi (D2) | 57–39 | 15–24 |
| (D1) Hanazono Liners | 42–56 | Urayasu D-Rocks (D2) | 12–21 | 30–35 |

### Matches

All times Japan Standard Time (JST) (UTC+9)
Black Rams Tokyo v Green Rockets Tokatsu
* 18 May 2024 14:30 JST (UTC+9)
| Green Rockets Tokatsu | 21–40 | Black Rams Tokyo |
| | Report | |
* Kashiwanoha Stadium Attendance: 5,062
* 25 May 2024 14:30 JST (UTC+9)
| Black Rams Tokyo | 55–0 | Green Rockets Tokatsu |
| | Report | |
* Sagamihara Gion Stadium Referee: 2,523
Mie Heat v Shuttles Aichi
* 18 May 2024 12:00 JST (UTC+9)
| Shuttles Aichi | 39–57 | Mie Heat |
| | Report | |
* Paloma Mizuho Rugby Stadium Attendance: 2,771
* 25 May 2024 12:00 JST (UTC+9)
| Mie Heat | 15–24 | Shuttles Aichi |
| | Report | |
* Mie Suzuka Sports Garden Attendance: 4,230
Hanazono Liners v Urayasu D-Rocks
* 18 May 2024 12:00 JST (UTC+9)
| Urayasu D-Rocks | 21–12 | Hanazono Liners |
| | Report | |
* Edogawa Stadium Attendance: 5,004
* 24 May 2024 19:00 JST (UTC+9)
| Hanazono Liners | 30–35 | Urayasu D-Rocks |
| | Report | |
* Hanazono Rugby Stadium Attendance: 7,883

## Season play-offs

Bracket
| Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Final | Final |
| 18 May – Aoyama (Tokyo) | 18 May – Aoyama (Tokyo) |
| Saitama Wild Knights | 20 |
| Saitama Wild Knights | 20 | 26 May – Shinjuku (Tokyo) | 26 May – Shinjuku (Tokyo) |
| Yokohama Eagles | 17 | 26 May – Shinjuku (Tokyo) | 26 May – Shinjuku (Tokyo) |
| Yokohama Eagles | 17 | Saitama Wild Knights | 20 |
| 19 May – Aoyama (Tokyo) | 19 May – Aoyama (Tokyo) | | Saitama Wild Knights | 20 |
| 19 May – Aoyama (Tokyo) | 19 May – Aoyama (Tokyo) | Brave Lupus Tokyo | 24 |
| Brave Lupus Tokyo | 28 | Brave Lupus Tokyo | 24 |
| Tokyo Sungoliath | 20 | | |
| Tokyo Sungoliath | 20 | Third place | Third place |
| | | 25 May – Aoyama (Tokyo) | 25 May – Aoyama (Tokyo) |
| | | Tokyo Sungoliath | 40 |
| | | Yokohama Eagles | 33 |

### Semi-finals

* 18 May 2024 14:05 JST (UTC+9)
| Saitama Wild Knights | 20–17 | Yokohama Eagles |
| | Report | |
* Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium Attendance: 15,464
* 19 May 2024 14:05 JST (UTC+9)
| Brave Lupus Tokyo | 28–20 | Tokyo Sungoliath |
| | Report | |
* Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium Attendance: 17,133

### 3rd Place Playoff

* 25 May 2024 12:05 JST (UTC+9)
| Tokyo Sungoliath | 40 - 33 | Yokohama Eagles |
| | Report | |
* Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium Attendance: 9,509

### Final

* 26 May 2024 15:05 JST (UTC+9)
| Saitama Wild Knights | 20 - 24 | Brave Lupus Tokyo |
| | Report | |
* Japan National Stadium Attendance: 56,486

## Attendances

| # | Club | Average attendance |
| 1 | Tokyo Sungoliath | 14,039 |
| 2 | Toyota Verblitz | 12,884 |
| 3 | Kobe Steelers | 10,596 |
| 4 | Yokohama Eagles | 10,531 |
| 5 | Saitama Wild Knights | 10,376 |
| 6 | Brave Lupus Tokyo | 10,045 |
| 7 | Spears Tokyo Bay | 8,188 |
| 8 | Shizuoka Blue Revs | 7,640 |
| 9 | Black Rams Tokyo | 7,511 |
| 10 | Hanazono Liners | 5,550 |
| 11 | Sagamihara DynaBoars | 5,519 |
| 12 | Mie Heat | 4,271 |