2023–24 Japan Rugby League One – Division 1

2023–24 Japan Rugby League One – D1
Countries Japan
Number of teams12
Date09 December 2023 – 26 May 2024
PromotedMie Honda Heat
Matches played36
Attendance355,760
(average 9,882 per match)
Highest attendance31,953 (Tokyo Sungoliath vs. Brave Lupus Tokyo, 17 December 2023)
Top point scorer Rikiya Matsuda (59)
Top try scorer Jone Naikabula (5)
Official website
league-one.jp/en
← 2022-23
2024–25 →

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 Honda 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 6 6 0 0 340 89 +251 51 13 5 0 29 Qualification for Play-off Semi-finals
2 Brave Lupus Tokyo 6 6 0 0 207 132 +75 29 15 3 0 27
3 Tokyo Sungoliath 6 5 0 1 214 163 +51 25 20 2 1 23
4 Yokohama Eagles 6 4 0 2 193 175 +18 26 24 1 1 18
5 Shizuoka Blue Revs 6 3 0 3 216 146 +70 31 22 2 2 16
6 Spears Funabashi 6 3 0 3 196 150 +46 26 22 1 2 15
7 Kobe Steelers 6 3 0 3 250 196 +54 36 23 1 2 15
8 Toyota Verblitz 6 3 0 3 177 157 +20 26 20 1 1 14
9 Sagamihara DynaBoars 6 2 0 4 185 257 −72 19 31 0 2 10
10 Black Rams Tokyo 6 1 0 5 108 140 −32 15 19 0 3 7 Qualification for relegation play-offs
11 Hanazono Liners 6 0 0 6 95 283 −188 14 42 0 1 1
12 Mie Honda Heat 6 0 0 6 68 361 −293 9 55 0 0 0
Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source:[citation needed]
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Number of wins; 3) Point difference

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 HKL KKS KSP MHH MSD SWK SBR SUN TBL TV YCE
Black Rams Tokyo — 41–14 17–25
Hanazono Liners — 0–49 14–47
Kobe Steelers — 34–38 80–15 39–46
Spears Funabashi — 19–23 26–52
Mie Honda Heat 0–75 — 13–62 16–34
Sagamihara DynaBoars 30–29 — 21–81 35–40
Saitama Wild Knights 44–17 — 43–27 53–12
Shizuoka Blue Revs 26–30 — 25–29
Tokyo Sungoliath 44–36 — 19–26
Brave Lupus Tokyo 24–20 40–12 43–30 —
Toyota Verblitz 15–8 54–40 —
Yokohama Eagles 24–8 66–26 24–22 —
Updated to match(es) played on 14 January 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.

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.

External links