2024–25 Japan Rugby League One – Division 1

2024–25 Japan Rugby League One – D1
Toshiba Brave Lupus players being awarded the Final trophy.
Countries Japan
Number of teams12
Date21 December 2024 – 1 June 2025
ChampionsToshiba Brave Lupus
PromotedUrayasu D-Rocks
Matches played118
Attendance975,386
(average 8,266 per match)
Highest attendance51,009 (Brave Lupus Tokyo vs. Spears Tokyo Bay, 1 June 2025)
Top point scorer Kyohei Yamasawa (186)
Top try scorer Jone Naikabula (15)
Official website
league-one.jp/en

The 2024–25 Japan Rugby League One – Division 1 season was the fourteenth season in the top-flight league of Japanese rugby, the Japan Rugby League One. The season was played from December 2024 through to June 2025.[1] The competition consisted of twelve teams, including one promoted team from Division 2, the Urayasu D-Rocks.

Format

The format 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 Toshiba Brave Lupus (C) 18 15 1 2 741 480 +261 110 67 8 2 72 Qualification for the play-offs
2 Saitama Wild Knights 18 14 2 2 727 437 +290 98 63 10 1 71
3 Kubota Spears 18 14 2 2 606 361 +245 86 48 7 2 69
4 Shizuoka Blue Revs 18 14 0 4 616 504 +112 89 67 6 1 63
5 Kobe Steelers 18 10 0 8 642 509 +133 93 73 6 5 51
6 Tokyo Sungoliath 18 8 2 8 542 568 −26 73 81 2 2 40
7 Black Rams Tokyo 18 6 0 12 504 521 −17 71 69 4 5 33
8 Yokohama Canon Eagles 18 6 0 12 518 566 −48 61 80 3 3 30
9 Sagamihara DynaBoars 18 6 0 12 436 653 −217 61 98 0 2 26
10 Toyota Verblitz 18 4 1 13 445 617 −172 63 84 2 4 24
11 Mie Honda Heat (O) 18 4 0 14 417 711 −294 59 105 0 2 18 Qualification for the relegation play-offs
12 Urayasu D-Rocks (O) 18 3 0 15 465 732 −267 66 107 0 2 14
Source: league-one.jp
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Number of wins; 3) Point difference
(C) Champion; (O) Play-off winner(s)

Fixtures

Each team will play seven teams twice and four teams once for a total of eighteen home and away matches.[3]

Home \ Away BRT BLT KS MH SDB SWK SBR STB TSG TV UDR YE
Black Rams Tokyo — 16–39 24–32 37–7 44–22
Toshiba Brave Lupus — 32–26 59–21 61–8 42–31 26–56 31–27 43–33 22–14 49–28
Kobe Steelers 44–15 28–73 — 47–5 59–33 23–29 29–31 63–21 50–22 36–18
Mie Honda Heat 23–21 12–35 — 38–37 33–53 27–32 19–27 30–38 31–39 20–17
Sagamihara DynaBoars 7–22 28–45 34–26 — 34–40 12–40 34–22 44–40 31–19 38–28
Saitama Wild Knights 27–21 28–28 46–32 48–24 39–10 — 26–24 60–17 55–17 53–26
Shizuoka Blue Revs 31–25 34–28 15–13 44–14 38–8 22–17 — 14–33 62–52 38–28
Kubota Spears 26–18 25–20 39–20 33–5 29–29 62–14 — 30–10 30–27 41–24
Tokyo Sungoliath 43–34 37–39 60–31 12–33 22–17 26–26 — 30–30 40–35 22–33
Toyota Verblitz 32–18 22–33 17–21 22–31 22–38 23–33 14–37 28–45 — 20–24
Urayasu D-Rocks 19–61 20–33 31–26 34–21 26–54 19–62 22–33 31–36 — 12–40
Yokohama Canon Eagles 20–27 21–28 29–47 47–21 36–51 53–35 22–30 17–29 33–22 —
Updated to match(es) played on 11 May 2025. Source: league-one.jp
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Promotion/Relegation play-offs

The relegation play-offs took place in May 2025.

Overview

Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
(D1) Mie Honda Heat 58–44 Hanazono Kintetsu Liners (D2) 29–25 29–19
(D1) Urayasu D-Rocks 69–64 Shuttles Aichi (D2) 42–43 27–21

Matches

All times Japan Standard Time (JST) (UTC+9)

Urayasu D-Rocks v Shuttles Aichi

24 May 2025
12:30 JST (UTC+9)
Shuttles Aichi43–42Urayasu D-Rocks
Report
Wave Stadium Kariya
Attendance: 2,601
31 May 2025
12:00 JST (UTC+9)
Urayasu D-Rocks27–21Shuttles Aichi
Report
Kashiwanoha Stadium
Attendance: 3,238

Mie Heat v Hanazono Kintetsu Liners

Season play-offs

 
Quarter-finalsSemi-finalsFinal
 
          
 
17 May – Higashiōsaka
 
 
Shizuoka Blue Revs20
 
24 May – Aoyama
 
Kobe Steelers35
 
Toshiba Brave Lupus31
 
 
Kobe Steelers3
 
 
6 June – Shinjuku
 
 
Toshiba Brave Lupus18
 
 
Kubota Spears13
 
 
25 May – Aoyama
 
 
Saitama Wild Knights24
 
18 May – Higashiōsaka
 
Kubota Spears28 Third-place Final
 
Kubota Spears20
 
31 May – Aoyama
 
Tokyo Sungoliath15
 
Kobe Steelers22
 
 
Saitama Wild Knights17
 

Quarter-finals

17 May 2025
12:05 JST (UTC+9)
Shizuoka Blue Revs20–35Kobe Steelers
Report
Hanazono Rugby Stadium, Higashiōsaka
Attendance: 7,006
18 May 2025
14:30 JST (UTC+9)
Kubota Spears20–15Tokyo Sungoliath
Report
Hanazono Rugby Stadium, Higashiōsaka
Attendance: 6,900

Semi-finals

24 May 2025
14:05 JST (UTC+9)
Toshiba Brave Lupus31–3Kobe Steelers
Report
Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium, Aoyama
Attendance: 16,253
25 May 2025
14:30 JST (UTC+9)
Saitama Wild Knights24–28Kubota Spears
Report
Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium, Aoyama
Attendance: 17,735

Third-place Final

31 May 2025
14:05 JST (UTC+9)
Kobe Steelers22–17Saitama Wild Knights
Report
Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium, Aoyama
Attendance: 8,151

Final

1 June 2025
15:05 JST (UTC+9)
Toshiba Brave Lupus18–13Kubota Spears
Report
National Stadium, Shinjuku
Attendance: 51,009

References

  1. ^ "NTT Japan Rugby League One 2024–25 Division 1" [NTT Japan Rugby League One 2024–25, Divisional and Conference Organisation (Updated)]. league-one.jp (in Japanese). Japan Rugby League One. 1 August 2024.
  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.
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