2023–24 Japan Rugby League One – Division 1

2023–24 Japan Rugby League One – D1
Countries Japan
Number of teams12
Date9 December 2023 – 26 May 2024
ChampionsBrave Lupus Tokyo
PromotedMie Heat
RelegatedHanazono Liners
Matches played106
Attendance972,434
(average 9,174 per match)
Highest attendance56,486 (Saitama Wild Knights vs. Brave Lupus Tokyo, 26 May 2024)
Top point scorer Bryn Gatland (217)
Top try scorer Malo Tuitama (15)
Official website
league-one.jp/en

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,[1] 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.[2]

Teams and personnel

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
3 Tokyo Sungoliath 16 10 1 5 584 425 +159 83 58 5 3 50
4 Yokohama Eagles 16 10 0 6 518 446 +72 75 63 6 3 49
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
12 Hanazono Liners (R) 16 1 0 15 353 704 −351 51 102 0 2 6
Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: league-one.jp
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Number of wins; 3) Point difference
(C) Champion; (O) Play-off winner(s); (R) Relegated

Fixtures

Each team will play five teams twice and six teams once for a total of sixteen home and away matches.[3]

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 —
Updated to match(es) played on 5 May 2024. Source: league-one.jp
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

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

Mie Heat v Shuttles Aichi

18 May 2024
12:00 JST (UTC+9)
Shuttles Aichi39–57Mie Heat
Report
Paloma Mizuho Rugby Stadium
Attendance: 2,771
25 May 2024
12:00 JST (UTC+9)
Mie Heat15–24Shuttles 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-Rocks21–12Hanazono Liners
Report
Edogawa Stadium
Attendance: 5,004
24 May 2024
19:00 JST (UTC+9)
Hanazono Liners30–35Urayasu D-Rocks
Report
Hanazono Rugby Stadium
Attendance: 7,883

Season play-offs

Bracket

 
Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
18 May – Aoyama (Tokyo)
 
 
Saitama Wild Knights20
 
26 May – Shinjuku (Tokyo)
 
Yokohama Eagles17
 
Saitama Wild Knights20
 
19 May – Aoyama (Tokyo)
 
Brave Lupus Tokyo24
 
Brave Lupus Tokyo28
 
 
Tokyo Sungoliath20
 
Third place
 
 
25 May – Aoyama (Tokyo)
 
 
Tokyo Sungoliath40
 
 
Yokohama Eagles33

Semi-finals

18 May 2024
14:05 JST (UTC+9)
Saitama Wild Knights20–17Yokohama Eagles
Report
Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium
Attendance: 15,464
19 May 2024
14:05 JST (UTC+9)
Brave Lupus Tokyo28–20Tokyo Sungoliath
Report
Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium
Attendance: 17,133

3rd Place Playoff

25 May 2024
12:05 JST (UTC+9)
Tokyo Sungoliath40 - 33Yokohama Eagles
Report
Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium
Attendance: 9,509

Final

26 May 2024
15:05 JST (UTC+9)
Saitama Wild Knights20 - 24Brave 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

References

  1. ^ "NTT Japan Rugby League One 2023-24 Division 1" [NTT Japan Rugby League One 2022–23, Divisional and Conference Organisation (Updated)]. league-one.jp (in Japanese). Japan Rugby League One. 1 August 2022.
  2. ^ "NTTジャパンラグビー リーグワン2023-24 大会日程決定のお知らせ". league-one.jp (in Japanese). League One. 6 September 2023. Retrieved 6 September 2023.
  3. ^ "Schedule and Results". Japan Rugby League One. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.