2007–08 Top League


The 2007–08 Top League was the fifth season of Japan's domestic rugby union competition, the Top League. The Sanyo Wild Knights became the first ever team in the Top League to win all their league games, but were defeated for the Top League title by Suntory Sungoliath 14-10 in the Microsoft Cup final on February 24, 2008 at Chichibunomiya.
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.

Changes

and Mitsubishi Sagamihara DynaBoars joined the league for the first time.
Foreign referees such as George Ayoub, who was voted "Best Whistle" at the end of the 2007–08 season, refereed some of the games which were played throughout Japan as a deliberate policy to encourage interest in the game nationwide. Also the first game was played under the new lights at Chichibunomiya. The season's catch phrase was "For All".
On February 3, 2008 there was snow in Tokyo which prevented the last two games at Chichibunomiya being played on that day. This was the first time in five seasons that bad weather had caused a Top League game to be postponed. The games were postponed to Saturday, February 9 at the same ground.

Participating teams

There were 14 teams in the League, given in alphabetical order with their geographical location by prefecture, as follows:

Table

League games

1st round

The first round began on Friday October 26, 2007 with
Toshiba Brave Lupus playing Suntory Sungoliath under lights at Chichibunomiya in a repeat of the previous year's final. But this time Suntory gained revenge with a 10-3 win, the first one for Suntory after a string of seven successive losses stretching back to 2003.
Oct 26 :
19.30 Toshiba Brave Lupus 3 Suntory Sungoliath 10 ;
Oct 27 :
13.00 Sanyo Wild Knights 19 Kubota Spears 6 ;
14.00 Yamaha Jubilo 26 Toyota Verblitz 20 ;
19.00 Ricoh Black Rams 9 IBM Big Blue 3 ;
Oct 28 :
12.00 Kyuden Voltex 37 Mitsubishi Sagamihara DynaBoars 15 ;
13.00 Kobelco Steelers 36 NEC Green Rockets 21 ;
14.00 Fukuoka Sanix Blues 17 Coca-Cola West Red Sparks 13

2nd round

Nov 3
12.00 Yamaha Jubilo 19 NEC Green Rockets 23
12.00 Coca-Cola West Red Sparks 25 Kubota Spears 13
14.00 Toyota Verblitz 59 Mitsubishi Sagamihara DynaBoars 10
14.00 Sanyo Wild Knights 72 Fukuoka Sanix Blues 5
Nov 4
12.00 IBM Big Blue 13 Suntory Sungoliath 52
14.00 Toshiba Brave Lupus 40 Ricoh Black Rams 24
14.00 Kobelco Steelers 33 Kyuden Voltex 31

3rd round

Nov 10
12.00 NEC Green Rockets 38 Kyuden Voltex 22
12.00 Suntory Sungoliath 22 Coca-Cola West Red Sparks 23
14.00 Ricoh Black Rams 10 Sanyo Wild Knights 39
14.00 Toyota Verblitz 37 IBM Big Blue 30
14.00 Kobelco Steelers 54 Mitsubishi Sagamihara DynaBoars 7
17.00 Kubota Spears 7 Yamaha Jubilo 14
19.00 Toshiba Brave Lupus 28 Fukuoka Sanix Blues 12

4th round

Nov 17
14.00 Kubota Spears 21 Kobelco Steelers 28
14.00 Ricoh Black Rams 22 Suntory Sungoliath 43
14.00 Kyuden Voltex 22 Toyota Verblitz 27
Nov 18
12.00 Coca-Cola West Red Sparks 16 Toshiba Brave Lupus 43
13.00 Sanyo Wild Knights 57 IBM Big Blue 21
13.00 NEC Green Rockets 57 Mitsubishi Sagamihara DynaBoars 34
14.00 Fukuoka Sanix Blues 7 Yamaha Jubilo 5

5th round

Dec 1
12.00 IBM Big Blue 23 Fukuoka Sanix Blues 12
14.00 Suntory Sungoliath 50 Mitsubishi Sagamihara DynaBoars 10
14.00 Toyota Verblitz 61 Ricoh Black Rams 20
Dec 2
12.00 Coca-Cola West Red Sparks 18 Yamaha Jubilo 39
13.00 Sanyo Wild Knights 57 Kobe Kobelco Steelers 24
14.00 Kubota Spears 11 NEC Green Rockets 13
14.00 Kyuden Voltex 19 Toshiba Brave Lupus 34

6th round

Dec 8
12.00 Kubota Spears 30 Ricoh Black Rams 14
12.00 IBM Big Blue 17 Yamaha Jubilo 39
14.00 Mitsubishi Sagamihara DynaBoars 26 Toshiba Brave Lupus 59
14.00 Kobe Kobelco Steelers 27 Coca-Cola West Red Sparks 16
Dec 9
12.00 Fukuoka Sanix Blues 0 NEC Green Rockets 45
13.00 Toyota Verblitz 25 Sanyo Wild Knights 26
14.00 Kyuden Voltex 23 Suntory Sungoliath 61

7th round

Dec 15
12.00 Ricoh Black Rams 7 NEC Green Rockets 33
13.00 Toyota Verblitz 15 Kubota Spears 19
13.00 Kobe Kobelco Steelers 14 Suntory Sungoliath 31
14.00 Kyuden Voltex 22 Yamaha Jubilo 47
Dec 16
12.00 Coca-Cola West Red Sparks 13 IBM Big Blue 10
13.00 Toshiba Brave Lupus 0 Sanyo Wild Knights 41
14.00 Fukuoka Sanix Blues 17 Mitsubishi Sagamihara DynaBoars 10

8th round

Dec 22
13.00 Sanyo Wild Knights 35 Suntory Sungoliath 24
13.00 Fukuoka Sanix Blues 13 Toyota Verblitz 20
14.00 Mitsubishi Sagamihara DynaBoars 14 Kubota Spears 64
14.00 Toshiba Brave Lupus 36 Kobe Kobelco Steelers 17
14.00 Yamaha Jubilo 58 Ricoh Black Rams 3
14.00 Coca-Cola West Red Sparks 16 Kyuden Voltex 20
Dec 24
13.00 IBM Big Blue 14 NEC Green Rockets 21

9th round

January 5
12.00 Mitsubishi Sagamihara DynaBoars 15 Ricoh Black Rams 39
12.00 Kyuden Voltex 10 IBM Big Blue 26
14.00 Suntory Sungoliath 50 Fukuoka Sanix Blues 26
14.00 Yamaha Jubilo 28 Kobe Kobelco Steelers 31
14.00 Coca-Cola West Red Sparks 19 Sanyo Wild Knights 55
January 6
12.00 NEC Green Rockets 24 Toyota Verblitz 40
14.00 Toshiba Brave Lupus 33 Kubota Spears 17

10th round

January 13
12.00 IBM Big Blue 8 Toshiba Brave Lupus 45
13.00 NEC Green Rockets 8 Suntory Sungoliath 19
13.00 Kobe Kobelco Steelers 7 Toyota Verblitz 45
14.00 Ricoh Black Rams 6 Coca-Cola West Red Sparks 10
14.00 Yamaha Jubilo 96 Mitsubishi Sagamihara DynaBoars 0
January 14
12.00 Kubota Spears 17 Fukuoka Sanix Blues 33
14.00 Sanyo Wild Knights 52 Kyuden Voltex 7

11th round

January 19
12.00 Mitsubishi Sagamihara DynaBoars 17 IBM Big Blue 45
13.00 Kobe Kobelco Steelers 26 Ricoh Black Rams 17
14.00 NEC Green Rockets 33 Toshiba Brave Lupus 21
14.00 Toyota Verblitz 53 Coca-Cola West Red Sparks 24
January 20
13.00 Sanyo Wild Knights 40 Yamaha Jubilo 10
13.00 Suntory Sungoliath 24 Kubota Spears 14
13.00 Fukuoka Sanix Blues 5 Kyuden Voltex 13

12th round

January 26
12.00 Ricoh Black Rams 17 Kyuden Voltex 20
12.00 Coca-Cola West Red Sparks 27 NEC Green Rockets 35
14.00 Suntory Sungoliath 31 Yamaha Jubilo 7
14.00 Toyota Verblitz 19 Toshiba Brave Lupus 17
January 27
12.00 Fukuoka Sanix Blues 12 Kobe Kobelco Steelers 52
14.00 Mitsubishi Sagamihara DynaBoars 12 Sanyo Wild Knights 66
14.00 Kubota Spears 19 Nihon IBM Big Blue 10

13th round

February 2
12.00 Coca-Cola West Red Sparks 67 Mitsubishi Sagamihara DynaBoars 12
14.00 Yamaha Jubilo 21 Toshiba Brave Lupus 39
14.00 Fukuoka Sanix Blues 21 Ricoh Black Rams 29
February 3
12.00 NEC Green Rockets v Sanyo Wild Knights POSTPONED - SNOW
12.00 Kubota Spears 27 Kyuden Voltex 20
14.00 Suntory Sungoliath v Toyota Verblitz POSTPONED - SNOW
14.00 Kobe Kobelco Steelers 28 Nihon IBM Big Blue 26
February 9
12.00 NEC Green Rockets 7 Sanyo Wild Knights 34
14.00 Suntory Sungoliath 31 Toyota Verblitz 31

Title play-offs

The top four teams at the end of the season played in the fifth Microsoft Cup which consisted of two semi-finals and a final.

Semi-finals

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Final

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Cup Final MVP: Hirotoki Onozawa

Top League Challenge Series

and Yokogawa Musashino Atlastars won promotion to the 2008–09 Top League via the 2008 Top League Challenge Series, while Mazda Blue Zoomers and World Fighting Bull progressed to the [|promotion play-offs].

Promotion and relegation play-offs

The 11th placed team, IBM Big Blue, played the winner of Challenge 2, World Fighting Bull). The 12th placed team, Fukuoka Sanix Blues, played the third placed team of Challenge 1, Mazda Blue Zoomers. The winners of these two play-offs, or Irekaesen, progressed to the Top League for the next season.
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So IBM and Sanix remained in the Top League for the next season.

End of season awards

Team awards

Winner: Suntory Sungoliath
2nd: Sanyo Wild Knights
3rd: Toshiba Brave Lupus
Fair Play: Kyuden Voltex
Best Fan Service: Kobe Kobelco Steelers

Best fifteen

1 Prop Tatsukichi Nishiura
2 Hooker Mitsugu Yamamoto
3 Prop Tomokazu Soma
4 Lock Hitoshi Ono
5 Lock Tomoaki Taniguchi
6 Flanker Semisi Saukawa
7 Flanker Philip O'Reilly
8 No. 8 Ryu Koliniasi Holani
9 Scrum Half Fumiaki Tanaka
10 Stand Off Tony Brown
11 Wing Hirotoki Onozawa
12 Centre Shotaro Onishi
13 Centre Seiichi Shimomura
14 Wing Tomoki Kitagawa
15 Full Back Atsushi Tanabe
Top League MVP: Hirotoki Onozawa
Microsoft Cup Final MVP: Hirotoki Onozawa
Top League Rookie Award: Fumiaki Tanaka
Top League Top Try Scorer: Tomoki Kitagawa
Top League Top Points Scorer: Shotaro Onishi
Top League Best Kicker: Shotaro Onishi
Top League Special Award: Masato Toyoda
Top League Best Whistle: George Ayoub
See for further details.

Other details

Top Try scorers: Tomoki Kitagawa 14; Hirotoki Onozawa 13; Keita Katsumata 10; Jaco van der Westhuyzen 9; Ryu Koliniasi Holani 9
Top Points scorers: Shotaro Onishi 139; Hiroki Yoshida 138; Tony Brown 137; Hiroki Mizuno 100; Takeshi Matsuo 96
Relegated Teams: Mitsubishi Sagamihara DynaBoars, Ricoh Black Rams
Promoted Teams: Kintetsu Liners, Yokogawa Denki

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