# 2011–12 Top League

The 2011–12 Top League was the ninth season of Japan's domestic rugby union competition, the Top League. The Suntory Sungoliath team defeated Sanyo Wild Knights by 47–28 in the final of the Microsoft Cup to claim their second Top League championship.
The Top League is a semi-professional competition which is at the top of the national league system in Japan, with promotion and relegation between the next level down.

## Teams

| Team | Region |
| Coca-Cola West Red Sparks | Fukuoka, Kyushu |
| Fukuoka Sanix Blues | Fukuoka, Kyushu |
| Kintetsu Liners | Osaka, Kansai |
| Kobelco Steelers | Hyogo, Kansai |
| NTT DoCoMo Red Hurricanes | , Osaka |
| NEC Green Rockets | Chiba, Kanto |
| NTT Com Shining Arcs | Chiba, Chiba |
| Ricoh Black Rams | Tokyo, Kanto |
| Sanyo Wild Knights | Gunma, Kanto |
| Suntory Sungoliath | Tokyo, Kanto |
| Toshiba Brave Lupus | Tokyo, Kanto |
| Toyota Verblitz | Aichi, Tokai |
| Honda Heat | Suzuka, Mie |
| Yamaha Jubilo | Shizuoka, Tokai |

## Regular season
### Table

Top League Table :
| | Club | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Points For | Points Against | Points Difference | Try Bonus | Losing Bonus | Points |
| 1 | Suntory Sungoliath | 13 | 12 | 0 | 1 | 512 | 278 | +234 | 8 | 1 | 57 |
| 2 | Toshiba Brave Lupus | 13 | 11 | 0 | 2 | 475 | 173 | +302 | 9 | 2 | 55 |
| 3 | Sanyo Wild Knights | 13 | 11 | 0 | 2 | 480 | 324 | +156 | 8 | 1 | 53 |
| 4 | NEC Green Rockets | 13 | 8 | 0 | 5 | 349 | 314 | +35 | 8 | 1 | 41 |
| 5 | Kintetsu Liners | 13 | 8 | 0 | 5 | 341 | 311 | +30 | 5 | 2 | 39 |
| 6 | Kobelco Steelers | 13 | 6 | 1 | 6 | 349 | 288 | +61 | 7 | 5 | 38 |
| 7 | Ricoh Black Rams | 13 | 7 | 1 | 5 | 386 | 333 | +53 | 7 | 1 | 38 |
| 8 | Yamaha Jubilo | 13 | 6 | 1 | 6 | 407 | 274 | +133 | 6 | 3 | 35 |
| 9 | NTT Com Shining Arcs | 13 | 5 | 1 | 7 | 322 | 414 | −92 | 6 | 2 | 30 |
| 10 | Toyota Verblitz | 13 | 5 | 0 | 8 | 341 | 323 | +18 | 5 | 4 | 29 |
| 11 | Fukuoka Sanix Blues | 13 | 4 | 0 | 9 | 254 | 458 | −204 | 7 | 2 | 25 |
| 12 | NTT DoCoMo Red Hurricanes | 13 | 2 | 1 | 10 | 291 | 555 | −264 | 5 | 0 | 15 |
| 13 | Honda Heat | 13 | 2 | 1 | 10 | 226 | 479 | −253 | 2 | 1 | 13 |
| 14 | Coca-Cola West Red Sparks | 13 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 285 | 494 | −209 | 3 | 5 | 12 |
| • The top 4 teams qualified to the title play-offs.  • The top 4 teams also qualified for entry into the All-Japan Rugby Football Championship.  • Teams 5 to 8 qualified for the wildcard play-offs for entry into the All-Japan Rugby Football Championship.  • Teams 11 and 12 went through to the promotion and relegation play-offs against regional challengers.  • Teams 13 and 14 were automatically relegated to regional leagues for 2012–13. |||||||||||||||
| Source:The Rugby Archive 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 |||||||||||||||

### Fixtures and results
#### Round 1
## Title play-offs

Top 4 sides of the regular season competed in the Microsoft Cup (2012) knock-out tournament to fight for the Top League title. The top 4 teams of 2011–12 were Suntory Sungoliath, Toshiba Brave Lupus, Sanyo Wild Knights, and NEC Green Rockets.

### Final
## Wildcard play-offs

The Top League teams ranked 5th and 8th played-off, and the teams ranked 6th and 7th played-off, with the winners qualifying for the All-Japan Rugby Football Championship.
So Kobe and Yamaha progressed to the All-Japan Rugby Football Championship.

## Top League Challenge Series

Canon Eagles and Kyuden Voltex won promotion to the 2012–13 Top League via the 2011–12 Top League Challenge Series, while Kubota Spears and Toyota Industries Shuttles progressed to the promotion play-offs.

## Promotion and relegation play-offs

Two promotion/relegation matches (Irekaesen) were played. The Top League teams ranked 12th and 11th played-off against the Challenge 1 teams ranked 3rd and 4th respectively, for the right to be included in the Top League for the following season.
So Sanix and NTT Docomo remained in the Top League for the following season.

## End-of-season awards

| Award | Winner |
| Tournament winner: | Suntory Sungoliath |
| Fair Play award: | Toshiba Brave Lupus |
| Best player of the season: | George Smith (Suntory Sungoliath) |
| Revelation of the season: | Michael Leitch (Toshiba Brave Lupus) |
| Most tries: | Nemani Nadolo (NEC Green Rockets) |
| Most kicks: | Ayumu Goromaru (Yamaha Jubilo) |
| Best referee of the season: | Taizo Hirabayashi |
| Special prize: | Tomoaki Nakai (Toshiba Brave Lupus) First player to 100 Top League appearances |
2012/2013 Team of the Season
| Pos | | Player | Team |
| FB | 15 | Ayumu Goromaru | Yamaha Jubilo |
| RW | 14 | Tomoki Kitagawa | Sanyo Wild Knights |
| OC | 13 | Jaque Fourie | Sanyo Wild Knights |
| IC | 12 | Kosei Ono | Fukuoka Sanix Blues |
| LW | 11 | Nemani Nadolo | Sanyo Wild Knights |
| FH | 10 | Yasumasa Shigemitsu | Kintetsu Liners |
| SH | 9 | Atsushi Hiwasa | Suntory Sungoliath |
| N8 | 8 | Masato Toyoda | Toshiba Brave Lupus |
| OF | 7 | Michael Leitch | Toshiba Brave Lupus |
| BF | 6 | George Smith | Suntory Sungoliath |
| RL | 5 | Hitoshi Ono | Toshiba Brave Lupus |
| LL | 4 | Daniel Heenan | Sanyo Wild Knights |
| TP | 3 | Kensuke Hatakeyama | Suntory Sungoliath |
| HK | 2 | Shota Horie | Sanyo Wild Knights |
| LP | 1 | Hisateru Hirashima | Kobelco Steelers |