2013–14 Top League

The 2013–14 Top League was the 11th season of Japan's domestic rugby union competition, the Top League. It kicked off on 30 August 2013. The final was held on 9 February 2014 and won by Panasonic Wild Knights.^[1]

2013–14 Top League
The 2013–14 Top League champions, Panasonic.
Countries	Japan
Date	30 August 2013 – 9 February 2014
Champions	Panasonic Wild Knights (2nd title)
Runners-up	Suntory Sungoliath
Matches played	115
Top point scorer	Ryan Nicholas (188 pts)  Suntory Sungoliath
Top try scorer	Jaque Fourie (17 tries)  Kobe Kobelco Steelers
← 2012–13 2014–15 →

Teams

The Top League expanded from 14 to 16 teams for the 2013–14 season.^[2] The Sanix Blues team was relegated, and Coca-Cola West Red Sparks, Kubota Spears, Toyota Industries were promoted to the Top League for 2013–14.

Team	Region	Coach	Captain
Canon Eagles	Machida, Tokyo, Kantō	Yoji Nagatomo	Taku Wada
Coca-Cola West Red Sparks	Fukuoka, Kyushu	Shogo Mukai	Masakazu Toyota
Kintetsu Liners	Higashiosaka, Osaka, Kansai	Ryusuke Maeda	Haruki Ota
Kobelco Steelers	Kobe, Kansai	Seiji Hirao	Daiki Hashimoto
Kubota Spears	Abiko, Chiba, Kantō	Takashi Yamagami	Tatsurou Konno
Kyuden Voltex	Fukuoka, Kyūshū	Koji Hirata	Makoto Matsumoto
NEC Green Rockets	Abiko, Chiba, Kantō	Greg Cooper	Ryota Asano
NTT DoCoMo Red Hurricanes	Osaka, Kansai	Kazunari Takano	Hiroki Yoshioka
NTT Com Shining Arcs	Chiba, Chiba, Kantō	Masato Hayashi	Hiraku Tomoigawa
Panasonic Wild Knights	Ota, Gunma, Kantō	Norifumi Nakajima	Shota Horie
Ricoh Black Rams	Tokyo, Kantō	Leon Holden	Daisuke Komatsu
Suntory Sungoliath	Fuchū, Tokyo, Kantō	Naoya Okubo	Shinya Makabe
Toshiba Brave Lupus	Fuchū, Tokyo, Kantō	Kenichi Wada	Michael Leitch
Toyota Industries Shuttles	Aichi, Mizuho	Tai McIsaac	Takayuki Kamitani
Toyota Verblitz	Toyota, Aichi, Tokai	Keiji Hirose	Ryuta Ueno
Yamaha Júbilo	Iwata, Shizuoka, Tokai	Katsuyuki Kiyomiya	Yuta Kasahara

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 2014–15.

Table

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	Panasonic Wild Knights	7	7	0	0	224	105	119	4	0	4	36
2	Suntory Sungoliath	7	6	0	1	261	169	92	4	0	4	32
3	Kobelco Steelers	7	4	0	3	223	194	29	5	1	2	24
4	Toshiba Brave Lupus	7	4	0	3	181	151	30	2	3	2	23
5	Yamaha Júbilo	7	3	0	4	168	177	-9	2	2	3	19
6	Toyota Verblitz	7	3	0	4	127	188	-61	1	0	1	14
7	Canon Eagles	7	1	0	6	131	251	-120	0	3	1	8
8	NEC Green Rockets	7	0	0	7	130	210	-80	1	3	3	7
Updated: 19 Jan 2014 Source:The Rugby Archive[3]  • 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	Kubota Spears	7	5	0	2	166	103	63	2	1	4	27
2	Kintetsu Liners	7	5	0	2	187	158	29	3	1	3	27
3	Ricoh Black Rams	7	4	0	3	217	150	67	5	2	2	25
4	Toyota Industries Shuttles	7	4	0	3	190	195	-5	4	0	3	23
5	NTT Com Shining Arcs	7	3	0	4	158	210	-52	3	1	4	20
6	Coca-Cola West Red Sparks	7	3	0	4	157	175	-18	3	3	1	19
7	NTT DoCoMo Red Hurricanes	7	2	0	5	152	160	-8	2	2	2	14
8	Kyuden Voltex	7	2	0	5	157	233	-76	3	0	1	12
Updated: 19 Jan 2014 Source:The Rugby Archive[3]  • 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 2014–15.  • 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:The Rugby Archive[3] 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	Suntory Sungoliath	7	6	0	1	245	110	135	5	1	30
2	NEC Green Rockets	7	5	0	2	193	138	55	4	1	25
3	Kobelco Steelers	7	5	0	2	213	147	66	4	0	24
4	Toyota Verblitz	7	5	0	2	142	111	31	1	1	22
5	NTT Com Shining Arcs	7	4	0	3	155	175	-20	3	0	19
6	Toyota Industries Shuttles	7	1	0	6	172	185	-13	3	4	11
7	NTT DoCoMo Red Hurricanes	7	2	0	5	116	208	-92	2	0	10
8	Kyuden Voltex	7	0	0	7	87	259	-162	0	0	0
Updated: 26 Nov 2013 Source:The Rugby Archive[3]  • 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	Panasonic Wild Knights	7	5	1	1	231	97	134	5	1	28
2	Yamaha Júbilo	7	5	1	1	209	150	59	3	0	25
3	Toshiba Brave Lupus	7	5	0	2	164	131	33	3	0	23
4	Canon Eagles	7	4	0	3	187	161	26	2	2	20
5	Kubota Spears	7	4	0	3	169	173	-4	3	1	20
6	Kintetsu Liners	7	2	0	5	139	167	-28	2	3	13
7	Ricoh Black Rams	7	1	1	5	142	196	-54	1	2	9
8	Coca-Cola West Red Sparks	7	0	1	6	125	291	-166	3	1	6
Updated: 26 Nov 2013 Source:The Rugby Archive[3]  • 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:The Rugby Archive[3] 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

Group stage

Round 1

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	30/11/2013	Coca-Cola West Red Sparks	32–17	Ricoh Black Rams
	14:00

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	30/11/2013	Kyuden Voltex	38–36	NTT Com Shining Arcs
	14:00

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	30/11/2013	NEC Green Rockets	19–22	Canon Eagles
	14:00

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	30/11/2013	Panasonic Wild Knights	24–20	Yamaha Jubilo
	14:00

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	01/12/2013	Kintetsu Liners	21–20	NTT DoCoMo Red Hurricanes
	14:00

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	01/12/2013	Kobelco Steelers	23–37	Suntory Sungoliath
	14:00

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	01/12/2013	Kubota Spears	30–7	Toyota Industries Shuttles
	14:00

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	01/12/2013	Toyota Verblitz	12–27	Toshiba Brave Lupus
	14:00

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Round 2

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	07/12/2013	NEC Green Rockets	24–52	Suntory Sungoliath
	14:00

---

	07/12/2013	NTT Com Shining Arcs	16–47	Ricoh Black Rams
	14:00

---

	07/12/2013	Toyota Industries Shuttles	50–29	Kintetsu Liners
	14:00

---

	07/12/2013	Toyota Verblitz	11–32	Panasonic Wild Knights
	14:00

---

	07/12/2013	Yamaha Jubilo	35–16	Kobelco Steelers
	14:00

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	08/12/2013	Kyuden Voltex	14–25	Kubota Spears
	14:00

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	08/12/2013	NTT DoCoMo Red Hurricanes	17–18	Coca-Cola West Red Sparks
	14:00

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	08/12/2013	Toshiba Brave Lupus	26–24	Canon Eagles
	14:00

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Round 3

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	14/12/2013	Suntory Sungoliath	13–42	Panasonic Wild Knights
	14:00

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	14/12/2013	Toshiba Brave Lupus	22–18	NEC Green Rockets
	14:00

---

	14/12/2013	Yamaha Jubilo	23–19	Canon Eagles
	14:00

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	15/12/2013	Coca-Cola West Red Sparks	24–29	Toyota Industries Shuttles
	14:00

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	15/12/2013	Kintetsu Liners	31–15	Kyuden Voltex
	14:00

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	15/12/2013	Kobelco Steelers	34–18	Toyota Verblitz
	14:00

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	15/12/2013	Kubota Spears	18–20	NTT Com Shining Arcs
	14:00

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	15/12/2013	Ricoh Black Rams	36–20	NTT DoCoMo Red Hurricanes
	14:00

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Round 4

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	21/12/2013	Kubota Spears	32–5	Coca-Cola West Red Sparks
	14:00

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	21/12/2013	NTT Com Shining Arcs	24–14	NTT DoCoMo Red Hurricanes
	14:00

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	21/12/2013	Toyota Industries Shuttles	44–12	Kyuden Voltex
	14:00

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	21/12/2013	Yamaha Jubilo	40–26	NEC Green Rockets
	14:00

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	22/12/2013	Kobelco Steelers	48–19	Canon Eagles
	14:00

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	22/12/2013	Panasonic Wild Knights	14–12	Toshiba Brave Lupus
	14:00

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	22/12/2013	Ricoh Black Rams	19–24	Kintetsu Liners
	14:00

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	22/12/2013	Suntory Sungoliath	49–7	Toyota Verblitz
	14:00

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Round 5

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	04/01/2014	Canon Eagles	3–53	Panasonic Wild Knights
	14:00

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	04/01/2014	NEC Green Rockets	17–33	Kobelco Steelers
	14:00

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	04/01/2014	NTT DoCoMo Red Hurricanes	12–28	Kubota Spears
	14:00

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	05/01/2014	Coca-Cola West Red Sparks	20–27	Kintetsu Liners
	14:00

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	05/01/2014	Kyuden Voltex	31–29	Ricoh Black Rams
	14:00

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	05/01/2014	Toshiba Brave Lupus	29–30	Suntory Sungoliath
	14:00

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	05/01/2014	Toyota Industries Shuttles	34–21	NTT Com Shining Arcs
	14:00

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	05/01/2014	Toyota Verblitz	41–16	Yamaha Jubilo
	14:00

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Round 6

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	11/01/2014	Canon Eagles	25–58	Suntory Sungoliath
	14:00

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	11/01/2014	Kintetsu Liners	17–20	Kubota Spears
	14:00

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	11/01/2014	Kyuden Voltex	21–31	NTT DoCoMo Red Hurricanes
	14:00

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	11/01/2014	NTT Com Shining Arcs	27–21	Coca-Cola West Red Sparks
	14:00

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	11/01/2014	Panasonic Wild Knights	32–31	Kobelco Steelers
	14:00

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	11/01/2014	Toyota Industries Shuttles	14–41	Ricoh Black Rams
	14:00

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	11/01/2014	Toyota Verblitz	14–11	NEC Green Rockets
	14:00

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	11/01/2014	Yamaha Jubilo	15–29	Toshiba Brave Lupus
	14:00

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Round 7

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	18/01/2014	Kintetsu Liners	38–14	NTT Com Shining Arcs
	14:00

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	18/01/2014	NTT DoCoMo Red Hurricanes	38–12	Toyota Industries Shuttles
	14:00

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	18/01/2014	Ricoh Black Rams	28–13	Kubota Spears
	14:00

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	18/01/2014	Suntory Sungoliath	22–19	Yamaha Jubilo
	14:00

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	19/01/2014	Canon Eagles	19–24	Toyota Verblitz
	14:00

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	19/01/2014	Coca-Cola West Red Sparks	37–26	Kyuden Voltex
	14:00

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	19/01/2014	Kobelco Steelers	38–36	Toshiba Brave Lupus
	14:00

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	19/01/2014	Panasonic Wild Knights	27–15	NEC Green Rockets
	14:00

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Title play-offs

Top 4 sides of the regular season competed in the Microsoft Cup (2014) knock out tournament to fight for the Top League title. The top 4 teams of 2013–14 were Panasonic Wild Knights, Suntory Sungoliath, Kobelco Steelers, and Toshiba Brave Lupus.

Semi-finals

	01/02/2014	Panasonic Wild Knights	55–15	Toshiba Brave Lupus	Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium, Tokyo
	14:00		Report[4] Summary[5]

	02/02/2014	Suntory Sungoliath	27–19	Kobelco Steelers	Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium, Tokyo
	14:00		Report[6] Summary[7]

Final

	09/02/2014	Panasonic Wild Knights	45–22	Suntory Sungoliath	Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium, Tokyo
	14:00	Try: Yamada 5', 49' Miyake 77' Con: Barnes (2/3) 50', 78' Pen: Barnes (8/9) 21', 24', 31', 46', 53', 69', 72', 80'	Report[1] Summary[8]	Try: Shinya 9', Du Preez 14', Aruga 36' Con: Tsukamoto (1/1) 15' Nicholas (1/2) 38' Pen: Nicholas (1/2) 60'	Attendance: 10,217[1]

Team details

Panasonic Wild Knights FB 15 Yasutaka Sasakura  76' RW 14 Tomoki Kitagawa OC 13 Seichi Shimomura IC 12 Yasuki Hayashi  48' LW 11 Akihito Yamada FH 10 Berrick Barnes SH 9 Fumiaki Tanaka  77' N8 8 Koliniasi Holani  77' OF 7 Tadasuke Nishihara BF 6 Sione Vatuvei  77' RL 5 Daniel Heenan  48' LL 4 Yu Young-nam TP 3 Tomokazu Soma  53' HK 2 Shota Horie (c) LP 1 Keita Inagaki Replacements: HK 16 Tetsuya Shitara  77' PR 17 Naoki Kawamata  55' PR 18 Ryusioapelatu Holani  53'  55' LK 19 Yoichi Ijima  48' FL 20 Daichi Wakamatsu  77' SH 21 Nicholas Ealey  77' CE 22 JP Pietersen  48' FB 23 Takashi Miyake  76' Coach: Norifumi Nakajima Suntory Sungoliath FB 15 Go Aruga  62' RW 14 Murata Daishi OC 13 Koji Taira IC 12 Ryan Nicholas LW 11 Kenta Tsukamoto FH 10 Kosei Ono  69' SH 9 Fourie Du Preez  69' N8 8 Ozawa Naoki  77' OF 7 Takamichi Sasaki BF 6 George Smith  73' RL 5 Makabe Shinya (c) LL 4 Shinozuka Koji TP 3 Hatakeyama Kensuke HK 2 Aoki Yusuke LP 1 Kanei Tateo  73' Replacements: HK 16 Shintaro Ishihara  73' PR 17 Ozaki Akira PR 18 Ikegaya Yosuke FL 19 Takemoto Juntaro  77' FL 20 Hendrik Tui  73' SH 21 Hiwasa Atsushi  69' CE 22 Tusi Pisi  69' FB 23 Nagatomo Yasunori  62' Coach: Naoya Okubo

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.

First round

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	01/02/2014	NEC Green Rockets	47–10	Kubota Spears

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	01/02/2014	Yamaha Jubilo	46–0	Toyota Industries Shuttles

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	02/02/2014	Canon Eagles	25–41	Kintetsu Liners

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	02/02/2014	Toyota Verblitz	32–17	Ricoh Black Rams

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Second round

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	08/02/2014	NEC Green Rockets	12–13	Yamaha Jubilo

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	08/02/2014	Kintetsu Liners	3–18	Toyota Verblitz

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So Yamaha and Toyota advanced to the All-Japan Rugby Football Championship.

Top League Challenge Series

Main article: 2013–14 Top League Challenge Series

Fukuoka Sanix Blues won promotion to the 2014–15 Top League via the 2013–14 Top League Challenge Series, while Honda Heat, Mitsubishi Sagamihara DynaBoars and Yokogawa Musashino Atlastars 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.

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	08/02/2014	Coca-Cola West Red Sparks	22–17	Mitsubishi Sagamihara DynaBoars

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	15/02/2014	NTT DoCoMo Red Hurricanes	41–29	Honda Heat

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	22/02/2014	NTT Com Shining Arcs	29–7	Yokogawa Musashino Atlastars

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So Coca-Cola West Red Sparks, NTT Docomo, and NTT remained in the Top League for the next season.

End-of-season awards

At the end of season awards, Panasonic Wild Knights flyhalf Berrick Barnes was named Top League MVP, a day after helping his side to the league title. He was handed his trophy by Japan coach Eddie Jones.^[9]

Team awards

Award	Winner
Top League winners:	Panasonic Wild Knights
Fair Play award:
Best fans:

Individual awards

Award	Winner
Top League MVP:	Berrick Barnes (Panasonic)
Rookie award:	Keita Inagaki (Panasonic) and Kyosuke Horie (Yamaha)
Most tries:	Jaque Fourie (Kobe Steel) 17 tries
Top scorer:	Ryan Nicholas (Suntory)
Best kicker:	Ryan Nicholas (Suntory)
Best referee:
Playoffs MVP:

Team of the season

#	Winner
1.	Keita Inagaki (Panasonic)
2.	Shota Horie (Panasonic)
3.	Kensuke Hatakeyama (Suntory)
4.	Hitoshi Ono (Toshiba)
5.	Daniel Heenan (Panasonic)
6.	George Smith (Suntory)
7.	Tadasuke Nishihara (Panasonic)
8.	Kyosuke Horie (Yamaha)
9.	Atsushi Hiwasa (Suntory)
10.	Berrick Barnes (Panasonic)
11.	Akihito Yamada (Panasonic)
12.	Male Sa'u (Yamaha)
13.	Jaque Fourie (Kobe Steel)
14.	Tomoki Kitagawa (Panasonic)
15.	Ayumu Goromaru (Yamaha)