# 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.
| Team | Region | Coach | Captain |
| Canon Eagles | Machida, Tokyo, Kantō | Zane Hilton | Taku Wada |
| Coca-Cola Red Sparks | Fukuoka, Kyūshū | Akihiro Usui | Masakazu Toyota |
| Fukuoka Sanix Blues | Fukuoka, Kyūshū | Yuichiro Fujii | Eito Tamura |
| Kintetsu Liners | Higashiosaka, Osaka, Kansai | Ryusuke Maeda | Daiki Toyota |
| Kobelco Steelers | Kobe, Kansai | Gary Gold | Daiki Hashimoto |
| Kubota Spears | Funabashi, Chiba, Kantō | Toutai Kefu | Naomichi Tatekawa |
| NEC Green Rockets | Abiko, Chiba, Kantō | Masao Amino | Sunao Takizawa |
| NTT DoCoMo Red Hurricanes | Osaka, Kansai | Masahiro Shimoki | Hiroki Yoshioka |
| NTT Com Shining Arcs | Chiba, Chiba, Kantō | Rob Penney | Yuya Mizoguchi |
| Panasonic Wild Knights | Ota, Gunma, Kantō | Robbie Deans | Shota Horie |
| Ricoh Black Rams | Tokyo, Kantō | Damien Hill | Daisuke Komatsu |
| Suntory Sungoliath | Fuchū, Tokyo, Kantō | Andy Friend | Shinya Makabe |
| Toshiba Brave Lupus | Fuchū, Tokyo, Kantō | Teppei Tomioka | Yoshikazu Morita |
| Toyota Industries Shuttles | Aichi, Mizuho | Tai McIsaac | Koichi Umeda |
| Toyota Verblitz | Toyota, Aichi, Tokai | Filo Tiatia | Kojiro Yoshida |
| Yamaha Júbilo | Iwata, Shizuoka, Tokai | Katsuyuki Kiyomiya | Yuhimaru Mimura |

## 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 in Group 1 ranked 1st to 4th qualified for the title play-offs to fight for the Microsoft Cup and the Top League title. The top 4 also qualified directly into the All-Japan Rugby Football Championship.
The teams in Group 1 ranked 5th to 8th, and teams in Group 2 ranked 1st to 4th went through to the wildcard play-offs for qualification into the All-Japan Rugby Football Championship.
The teams in Group 2 ranked 5th to 7th went through to the promotion and relegation play-offs against regional challengers to fight to remain in the Top League. The team in Group 2 ranked 8th was automatically relegated to the regional leagues for 2015–16.

### Standings
#### Group stage tables

Top League - Group Stage :
| Group 1 |||||||||||||||
| | Club | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Points For | Points Against | Points Difference | Try Bonus | Losing Bonus | Start Points | Points |
| 1 | Kobelco Steelers | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 242 | 113 | +129 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 29 |
| 2 | Panasonic Wild Knights | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 218 | 131 | +87 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 29 |
| 3 | Toshiba Brave Lupus | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 213 | 147 | +66 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 28 |
| 4 | Yamaha Júbilo | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 165 | 134 | +31 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 27 |
| 5 | Suntory Sungoliath | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 171 | 157 | +14 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 26 |
| 6 | Toyota Verblitz | 7 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 126 | 198 | -72 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 11 |
| 7 | Canon Eagles | 7 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 116 | 224 | -108 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 8 |
| 8 | NTT Com Shining Arcs | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 99 | 246 | -147 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Updated: 11 January 2015 Source: rugbyarchive.net  • The top 4 teams (Green background) qualify for the title play-offs, and also play in the All-Japan Rugby Football Championship.  • Teams 5 to 8 (Blue background) qualify for the wildcard play-offs for entry into the All-Japan Rugby Football Championship.  • Teams 1st in each pool have 4 starting points. • Teams 2nd in each pool have 3 starting points.  • Teams 3rd in each pool have 2 starting points. • Teams 4th in each pool have 1 starting point. |||||||||||||||
| Group 2 |||||||||||||||
| | Club | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Points For | Points Against | Points Difference | Try Bonus | Losing Bonus | Start Points | Points |
| 1 | Ricoh Black Rams | 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 199 | 102 | +97 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 32 |
| 2 | NEC Green Rockets | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 148 | 114 | +34 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 27 |
| 3 | NTT DoCoMo Red Hurricanes | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 235 | 166 | +69 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 26 |
| 4 | Kintetsu Liners | 7 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 167 | 168 | -1 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 25 |
| 5 | Kubota Spears | 7 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 151 | 127 | +24 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 24 |
| 6 | Coca-Cola Red Sparks | 7 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 143 | 194 | -51 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 15 |
| 7 | Toyota Industries Shuttles | 7 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 110 | 193 | -83 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 8 |
| 8 | Fukuoka Sanix Blues | 7 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 147 | 236 | -89 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 8 |
| Updated: 11 January 2015 Source: rugbyarchive.net  • Teams 1 to 4 (Blue background) qualify for the wildcard play-offs for entry into the All-Japan Rugby Football Championship.  • Teams 5 to 7 (Yellow background) go through to the promotion and relegation play-offs against regional challengers to retain their places in the Top League.  • Team 8 (Red background) is automatically relegated to the regional leagues for 2015–16.  • Teams 5th in each pool have 4 starting points. • Teams 6th in each pool have 3 starting points.  • Teams 7th in each pool have 2 starting points. • Teams 8th in each pool have 1 starting point. |||||||||||||||
| Source: rugbyarchive.net Four points for a win, two for a draw, one bonus point for four tries or more (BP1) and one bonus point for losing by seven or less (BP2). If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:  • Difference between points for and against  • Total number of points for  • Number of matches won  • Aggregate number of points scored in matches between tied teams  • Number of matches won excluding the first match, then the second and so on until the tie is settled |||||||||||||||

#### Pool stage tables

Top League - Pool Stage :
| Pool A |||||||||||||||
| | Club | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Points For | Points Against | Points Difference | Try Bonus | Losing Bonus | Points |
| 1 | Panasonic Wild Knights | 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 308 | 116 | +192 | 5 | 0 | 29 |
| 2 | Toshiba Brave Lupus | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 218 | 141 | +77 | 4 | 2 | 26 |
| 3 | Yamaha Júbilo | 7 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 227 | 113 | +114 | 5 | 2 | 25 |
| 4 | NTT Com Shining Arcs | 7 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 172 | 169 | +3 | 3 | 2 | 21 |
| 5 | Kubota Spears | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 171 | 201 | -30 | 3 | 1 | 18 |
| 6 | NEC Green Rockets | 7 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 194 | 233 | -39 | 3 | 3 | 14 |
| 7 | Toyota Industries Shuttles | 7 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 123 | 249 | -126 | 1 | 0 | 9 |
| 8 | Fukuoka Sanix Blues | 7 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 129 | 320 | -191 | 2 | 0 | 6 |
| Updated: 20 October 2014 Source: rugbyarchive.net  • Teams 1 to 4 (Blue background) go through to Group 1 in the group stage.  • Teams 5 to 8 (Yellow background) go through to Group 2 in the group stage. |||||||||||||||
| Pool B |||||||||||||||
| | Club | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Points For | Points Against | Points Difference | Try Bonus | Losing Bonus | Points |
| 1 | Kobelco Steelers | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 182 | 106 | +76 | 3 | 0 | 29 |
| 2 | Suntory Sungoliath | 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 202 | 137 | +65 | 3 | 1 | 28 |
| 3 | Canon Eagles | 7 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 184 | 142 | +42 | 4 | 3 | 23 |
| 4 | Toyota Verblitz | 7 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 157 | 145 | +12 | 2 | 2 | 22 |
| 5 | Kintetsu Liners | 7 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 182 | 175 | +7 | 4 | 2 | 22 |
| 6 | Ricoh Black Rams | 7 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 183 | 160 | +23 | 3 | 3 | 14 |
| 7 | Coca-Cola Red Sparks | 7 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 90 | 210 | -120 | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| 8 | NTT DoCoMo Red Hurricanes | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 117 | 219 | -102 | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| Updated: 20 October 2014 Source: rugbyarchive.net  • Teams 1 to 4 (Blue background) go through to Group 1 in the group stage.  • Teams 5 to 8 (Yellow background) go through to Group 2 in the group stage. |||||||||||||||
| Source: rugbyarchive.net Four points for a win, two for a draw, one bonus point for four tries or more (BP1) and one bonus point for losing by seven or less (BP2). If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:  • Difference between points for and against  • Total number of points for  • Number of matches won  • Aggregate number of points scored in matches between tied teams  • Number of matches won excluding the first match, then the second and so on until the tie is settled |||||||||||||||

### Group stage
#### Round 1
#### Round 7
## Title play-offs

Top 4 sides of the regular season competed in the Lixil Cup knock out tournament to decide the Top League champion. The top 4 teams of 2014–15 were Kobelco Steelers, Panasonic Wild Knights, Toshiba Brave Lupus, and Yamaha Júbilo.

### Final

Team details :
Team 1 :
| FB | 15 | Ayumu Goromaru | |
| RW | 14 | Chikara Ito | |
| OC | 13 | Masatoshi Miyazawa | 78' |
| IC | 12 | Male Sa'u | |
| LW | 11 | Shinji Nakazono | 69' |
| FH | 10 | Tatsuhiko Otao | |
| SH | 9 | Yuki Yatomi | 78' |
| N8 | 8 | Kyosuke Horie | |
| OF | 7 | Yuhimaru Mimura (c) |
| BF | 6 | Mose Tuiali'i | 69' |
| RL | 5 | Duke Krishnan | |
| LL | 4 | Yuya Ohdo | |
| TP | 3 | Yoshikazu Tamura | 66' |
| HK | 2 | Takeshi Hino | 78' |
| LP | 1 | Koki Yamamoto | 61' |
| Replacements: |||
| HK | 16 | Keita Kato | 78' |
| PR | 17 | Naoya Kishi | 61' |
| PR | 18 | Ryo Yamamura | 66' |
| LK | 19 | Kohei Saita | 69' |
| FL | 20 | Kazuki Yamaji | |
| SH | 21 | Yoshiyuki Koike | 78' |
| CE | 22 | Katsunori Imoto | 78' |
| WG | 23 | Siale Piutau | 69' |
| Coach: |||
| Katsuyuki Kiyomiya ||||
Team 2 :
| FB | 15 | Yasutaka Sasakura | 66' |
| RW | 14 | Tomoki Kitagawa | |
| OC | 13 | Seiichi Shimomura | 55' |
| IC | 12 | Yasuki Hayashi | |
| LW | 11 | Akihito Yamada | |
| FH | 10 | Berrick Barnes | 55' |
| SH | 9 | Fumiaki Tanaka | |
| N8 | 8 | Koliniasi Holani | 77' |
| OF | 7 | Tadasuke Nishihara | |
| BF | 6 | You Young-nam | |
| RL | 5 | Daniel Heenan | 56' |
| LL | 4 | Kotaro Yatabe | 32' 42' |
| TP | 3 | Naoki Kawamata | 77' |
| HK | 2 | Shota Horie (c) | 77' |
| LP | 1 | Keita Inagaki | 77' | 31' to 42' |
| Replacements: |||
| HK | 16 | Tetsuya Shitara | 77' |
| PR | 17 | Jungo Kikawa | 32' 42' 77' |
| PR | 18 | Yuuki Kawano | 77' |
| FL | 19 | Youichi Iijima | 77' |
| FL | 20 | Masaki Tani | 56' |
| SH | 21 | Keisuke Uchida | 66' |
| CE | 22 | JP Pietersen | 55' |
| FB | 23 | Tadahiro Miwa | 55' |
| Coach: |||
| Robbie Deans ||||

## Wildcard play-offs

The Top League Group 1 teams ranked 5–8 and Group 2 teams ranked 1–4 played off over two rounds, with the second round winners qualifying for the All-Japan Rugby Football Championship.

### Second round

So NEC Green Rockets and Suntory Sungoliath advanced to the All-Japan Rugby Football Championship.

## Top League Challenge Series

Honda Heat won promotion to the 2015–16 Top League via the 2014–15 Top League Challenge Series, while Kamaishi Seawaves, Kyuden Voltex and Mitsubishi Sagamihara DynaBoars progressed to the promotion play-offs.

## Promotion and relegation play-offs

The Top League teams in Group 2 ranked 5th, 6th, and 7th, played-off against the Challenge 1 teams ranked 4th, 3rd, and 2nd, respectively, for the right to be included in the Top League for the following season.
So Kubota Spears, Coca-Cola Red Sparks and Toyota Industries Shuttles remained in the Top League for the next season.

## End-of-season awards
### Team awards

| Award | Winner |
| Top League winners: | Panasonic Wild Knights |
| Fair Play award: | Panasonic Wild Knights |
| Best fans: | Kobelco Steelers Toshiba Brave Lupus Panasonic Wild Knights |

### Individual awards

| Award | Winner |
| Top League MVP: | Berrick Barnes (Panasonic Wild Knights) |
| Rookie award: | Rakuhei Yamashita (Kobelco Steelers) |
| Most tries: | Nemani Nadolo (NEC Green Rockets) 11 Kyosuke Horie (Yamaha Júbilo) 11 Rakuhei Yamashita (Kobelco Steelers) 11 |
| Top scorer: | Berrick Barnes (Panasonic Wild Knights) 156 |
| Best kicker: | Berrick Barnes (Panasonic Wild Knights) 82.61% |
| Best referee: | Akihisa Aso |
| Playoffs MVP: | Akihito Yamada (Panasonic Wild Knights) |

### Team of the season

| # | Winner | Team |
| 1. | Keita Inagaki | Panasonic Wild Knights |
| 2. | Shota Horie | Panasonic Wild Knights |
| 3. | Hiroshi Yamashita | Kobelco Steelers |
| 4. | Andries Bekker | Kobelco Steelers |
| 5. | Shoji Ito | Kobelco Steelers |
| 6. | Adam Thomson | Canon Eagles |
| 7. | Michael Leitch | Toshiba Brave Lupus |
| 8. | Kyosuke Horie | Yamaha Júbilo |
| 9. | Fumiaki Tanaka | Panasonic Wild Knights |
| 10. | Berrick Barnes | Panasonic Wild Knights |
| 11. | Rakuhei Yamashita | Kobelco Steelers |
| 12. | Kotaro Matsushima | Suntory Sungoliath |
| 13. | Jaque Fourie | Kobelco Steelers |
| 14. | Akihito Yamada | Panasonic Wild Knights |
| 15. | Ayumu Goromaru | Yamaha Júbilo |