2022 Japan Rugby League One
The 2022 Japan Rugby League One is the inaugural season of Japan's new professional three-tier Rugby union competition. Division 1 will consist of the top twelve franchises and will play five teams twice and six teams once resulting in each team playing a total of 16 games home and away.[1] The top four sides at the end of the regular season will contest the 58th All-Japan Rugby Football Championship, whilst the bottom three sides will go into a promotion and relegation playoff against the top three sides from Division 2.[2]
| 2022 Japan Rugby League One | |
|---|---|
| Countries |  Japan |
| Date | 7 January 2022 – 29 May 2022 |
| Matches played | 54 |
| Attendance | 304,597 (average 5,641 per match) |
| Highest attendance | 11,233 (Yokohama Canon Eagles v Kobelco Kobe Steelers, 15 January 2022) |
| Top point scorer | Damian McKenzie (191) |
| Top try scorer | Dylan Riley (11) |
| Official website | |
| league-one | |
Teams
A total of twelve teams will participate in the inaugural Division 1 season.
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Ladder
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | BP | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tokyo Sungoliath | 15 | 13 | 0 | 2 | 556 | 286 | 270 | 9 | 61 |
| 2 | Kubota Spears Funabashi Tokyo Bay | 15 | 12 | 0 | 3 | 541 | 307 | 234 | 10 | 58 |
| 3 | Saitama Wild Knights | 15 | 13 | 0 | 2 | 492 | 284 | 208 | 5 | 57 |
| 4 | Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo | 15 | 10 | 0 | 5 | 513 | 364 | 149 | 9 | 49 |
| 5 | Toyota Verblitz | 15 | 10 | 0 | 5 | 400 | 346 | 54 | 6 | 46 |
| 6 | Yokohama Canon Eagles | 15 | 9 | 0 | 6 | 427 | 335 | 92 | 5 | 41 |
| 7 | Kobelco Kobe Steelers | 15 | 6 | 0 | 9 | 447 | 462 | -15 | 7 | 31 |
| 8 | Shizuoka Blue Revs | 15 | 5 | 0 | 10 | 277 | 370 | -93 | 6 | 26 |
| 9 | Shining Arcs Tokyo-Bay Urayasu | 15 | 4 | 0 | 11 | 243 | 453 | -210 | 2 | 18 |
| 10 | Black Rams Tokyo | 15 | 3 | 0 | 12 | 255 | 480 | -225 | 4 | 16 |
| 11 | NTT DoCoMo Red Hurricanes Osaka | 15 | 3 | 0 | 12 | 183 | 431 | −248 | 2 | 14 |
| 12 | Green Rockets Tokatsu | 15 | 2 | 0 | 13 | 293 | 509 | -216 | 6 | 14 |
| Legend: P = Games Played, W = Games Won, D = Games Drawn, L = Games Lost, PF = Points For, PA = Points Against, PD = Points Difference, BP = Bonus Points, Pts = Points. The top four teams qualify for the finals. Relegation playoff against Division 2. |
Fixtures & Results
Each team will play five teams twice and six teams once for a total of sixteen home and away matches.[3][4]
Round 1
7 January 2022 19:15 |
| Kubota Spears Funabashi Tokyo Bay | Cancelled [lower-alpha 1] | Saitama Wild Knights |
|---|---|---|
Round 2
Round 3
Round 4
Round 5
Round 6
20 February 2022 14:30 |
| NTT DoCoMo Red Hurricanes Osaka | Cancelled [lower-alpha 13] | Shining Arcs Tokyo-Bay Urayasu |
|---|---|---|
Round 7
26 February 2022 12:00 |
| Kobelco Kobe Steelers | Cancelled [lower-alpha 14] | NTT DoCoMo Red Hurricanes Osaka |
|---|---|---|
Round 8
Round 9
Round 10
Round 11
Round 12
Round 13
Round 14
Round 15
Round 16
International Foreign Players
Each side are allowed a maximum of three category C players, these are players who have represented a national side in international rugby that isn't Japan. Each side is also allowed to have a number of category B players who are foreign players who have never represented a test team and may become available for Japanese selection after residency eligibility.
Notes
- Wild Knights returned a number of positive COVID-19 tests and are therefore unable to field a side. Spears awarded bonus point win.[5]
- Blue Revs returned a number of positive COVID-19 tests and could not field a side. Verblitz awarded bonus point win.
- Wild Knights returned a number of positive COVID-19 tests and could not field a side. Green Rockets awarded bonus point win.
- Blue Revs returned a number of positive COVID-19 tests and could not field a side. Black Rams awarded bonus point win.
- Black Rams returned a number of positive COVID-19 tests and could not field a side. Brave Lupus awarded bonus point win.
- Shining Arcs returned a number of positive COVID-19 tests and could not field a side. Green Rockets awarded bonus point win.
- Red Hurricanes returned a number of positive COVID-19 tests and could not field a side. Verblitz awarded bonus point win.
- Blue Revs returned a number of positive COVID-19 tests and could not field a side. Sungoliath awarded bonus point win.
- Shining Arcs returned a number of positive COVID-19 tests and could not field a side. Eagles awarded bonus point win.
- Black Rams returned a number of positive COVID-19 tests and could not field a side. Spears awarded bonus point win.
- Steelers returned a number of positive COVID-19 tests and could not field a side. Verblitz awarded bonus point win.
- Green Rockets returned a number of positive COVID-19 tests and could not field a side. Sungoliath awarded bonus point win.
- Shining Arcs returned a number of positive COVID-19 tests and could not field a side. Red Hurricanes awarded bonus point win.
- Steelers returned a number of positive COVID-19 tests and could not field a side. Red Hurricanes awarded bonus point win.
- Blue Revs returned a number of positive COVID-19 tests and could not field a side. Steelers awarded bonus point win.
- Red Hurricanes returned a number of positive COVID-19 tests and could not field a side. Blue Revs awarded bonus point win.
References
- "Japan Rugby League One Set for Launch in January 2022". Japan Rugby Football Union. Retrieved 2021-12-14.
- "Japan's new professional rugby league reveals inaugural schedule". The Japan Times. Retrieved 2021-12-15.
- "Japan Rugby League One Schedule". Japan Rugby League One. Retrieved 2021-12-15.
- "Schedule and Results". Japan Rugby League One. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
- "Rugby: Coronavirus infections cancel League One opener". Kyodo News. Retrieved 2022-01-06.