# 2016–17 Top League

The 2016–17 Top League is the 14th season of Japan's domestic rugby union competition, the Top League. It kicked off on 26 August 2016 and the final round of league matches were played on 14 January 2017.

## Teams

The only change to the make-up of the league was the Challenge One winner Munakata Sanix Blues replacing NTT DoCoMo Red Hurricanes.
| Team | Region | Coach | Captain |
| Canon Eagles | Machida, Tokyo, Kantō | Yoji Nagatomo | Yusuke Niwai |
| Coca-Cola Red Sparks | Fukuoka, Kyushu | Akihiro Usui | Kouta Yamashita |
| Honda Heat | Suzuka, Mie | Tomoaki Fujimoto | Daisuke Konishi |
| Kintetsu Liners | Higashiosaka, Osaka, Kansai | Akira Tsuboi | Daiki Toyota |
| Kobelco Steelers | Kobe, Kansai | Jim McKay | Daiki Hashimoto |
| Kubota Spears | Abiko, Chiba, Kantō | Frans Ludeke | Harumichi Tatekawa |
| Munakata Sanix Blues | Munakata, Fukuoka, Kyushu | Yuichiro Fujii | Eito Tamura |
| NEC Green Rockets | Abiko, Chiba, Kantō | Peter Russell | Sunao Takizawa |
| NTT Com Shining Arcs | Chiba, Chiba, Kantō | Rob Penney | Daisuke Kurihara |
| Panasonic Wild Knights | Ota, Gunma, Kantō | Robbie Deans | Shota Horie |
| Ricoh Black Rams | Tokyo, Kantō | Damien Hill | Takeshi Mabuchi |
| Suntory Sungoliath | Fuchū, Tokyo, Kantō | Keisuke Sawaki | Yutaka Nagare |
| Toshiba Brave Lupus | Fuchū, Tokyo, Kantō | Teppei Tomioka | Michael Leitch |
| Toyota Industries Shuttles | Aichi, Mizuho | Masaya Niu | Yuga Takada |
| Toyota Verblitz | Toyota, Aichi, Tokai | Hiroshi Sugawara | Taiyo Ando |
| Yamaha Júbilo | Iwata, Shizuoka, Tokai | Takanobu Horikawa | Takeshi Hino |

## Competition

The regular season saw all 16 teams competing in a round-robin style tournament where they played each team in the league once.
Unlike previous seasons, there were no title-play-offs, and the team on top of the league after the round-robin stages was crowned the champion. The top three teams progressed to the 54th All Japan Rugby Football Championship.

## Standings

Top League - League Stage :
| | Club | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Points For | Points Against | Points Difference | Try Bonus | Losing Bonus | Points |
| 1 | Suntory Sungoliath | 15 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 563 | 184 | +379 | 11 | 0 | 71 |
| 2 | Yamaha Júbilo | 15 | 14 | 0 | 1 | 580 | 208 | +372 | 11 | 0 | 67 |
| 3 | Panasonic Wild Knights | 15 | 13 | 0 | 2 | 579 | 268 | +311 | 9 | 1 | 62 |
| 4 | Kobelco Steelers | 15 | 10 | 0 | 5 | 473 | 328 | +145 | 7 | 1 | 48 |
| 5 | NTT Communications Shining Arcs | 15 | 9 | 0 | 6 | 336 | 292 | +44 | 4 | 1 | 41 |
| 6 | Ricoh Black Rams | 15 | 8 | 0 | 7 | 390 | 362 | +28 | 4 | 4 | 40 |
| 7 | Canon Eagles | 15 | 8 | 0 | 7 | 379 | 336 | +43 | 2 | 3 | 37 |
| 8 | Toyota Verblitz | 15 | 7 | 0 | 8 | 353 | 332 | +21 | 4 | 4 | 36 |
| 9 | Toshiba Brave Lupus | 15 | 6 | 0 | 9 | 351 | 381 | −30 | 4 | 6 | 34 |
| 10 | NEC Green Rockets | 15 | 6 | 1 | 8 | 337 | 401 | −64 | 3 | 2 | 31 |
| 11 | Munakata Sanix Blues | 15 | 7 | 0 | 8 | 280 | 481 | −201 | 0 | 1 | 29 |
| 12 | Kubota Spears | 15 | 6 | 1 | 8 | 271 | 387 | −116 | 1 | 1 | 28 |
| 13 | Kintetsu Liners | 15 | 3 | 0 | 12 | 268 | 417 | −149 | 0 | 6 | 18 |
| 14 | Coca-Cola Red Sparks | 15 | 3 | 0 | 12 | 239 | 478 | −239 | 2 | 3 | 17 |
| 15 | Toyota Industries Shuttles | 15 | 3 | 0 | 12 | 292 | 539 | −247 | 1 | 3 | 16 |
| 16 | Honda Heat | 15 | 1 | 0 | 14 | 274 | 571 | −297 | 0 | 3 | 7 |
| Updated: 15 January 2017 Source: itsrugby.co.uk at the Wayback Machine (archived 4 March 2017)  • Teams 1 to 3 (Green background) advance to the 54th All Japan Rugby Football Championship.  • Teams 13 to 15 (Blue background) go on to the 2016–17 Top League relegation play-offs.  • Team 16 (Red background) will be automatically relegated to the 2017 Top Challenge League. 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 |||||||||||||||
* Honda Heat were relegated to the new second-tier Top Challenge League.

## Matches

The following matches were played during the 2016–17 Top League competition:

### Round 15
## Top League Challenge Series

Hino Red Dolphins, Kyuden Voltex and Mitsubishi Sagamihara DynaBoars progressed to the promotion play-offs.

## Promotion/relegation play-offs

At the end of the season, there were three promotion/relegation play-offs for three places in the 2017–18 Top League. The teams ranked 13th, 14th and 15th in the Top League played off against the teams ranked 2nd, 3rd and 4th in the Top League Challenge 1.
Coca-Cola Red Sparks, Kintetsu Liners and Toyota Industries Shuttles qualified from the Top League relegation play-off zone, while Hino Red Dolphins, Kyuden Voltex and Mitsubishi Sagamihara DynaBoars qualified from Challenge 1.
The following matches were played in the series:
* Coca-Cola Red Sparks, Kintetsu Liners and Toyota Industries Shuttles remain in the Top League for the 2017–18 season.
* Hino Red Dolphins, Kyuden Voltex and Mitsubishi Sagamihara DynaBoars qualify to the second-tier Top Challenge League for the 2017–18 season.