The 2009–10 Top 14 competition was a French domestic rugby union club competition operated by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR). It began on August 14, 2009, with a match between Toulon and Stade Français at Stade Mayol in Toulon, and continued through to the final at the Stade de France on May 29, 2010.
This year's edition of the Top 14 welcomed Racing Métro, winners of the 2009 title in the second-level Pro D2, and Albi, victors in the 2009 promotion playoffs between the second- through fifth-placed teams in Pro D2, thus becoming the first team to achieve promotion to the Top 14 only one year after being relegated. They took the place of the two clubs from Landes, Dax and Mont-de-Marsan, relegated at the end of the 2008–09 Top 14. Mont-de-Marsan, which had been promoted to the Top 14 for 2008–09, finished bottom of the table and went down. The other newly promoted team in 2008–09, Toulon, finished ninth, sending Dax, who had already finished second-to-bottom the previous season before being allowed to stay in the Top 14 due to Albi's financial troubles, to Pro D2.
The two teams promoted for 2009–10 had very different results. Albi finished bottom of the table by a wide margin and went directly back to Pro D2. Racing Métro, on the other hand, finished sixth, giving them a berth in the newly expanded playoffs and a place in the 2010–11 Heineken Cup. Bayonne finished in the other relegation spot of 13th place, but were reprieved due to the financial problems of 12th-place Montauban.
The season ended with Clermont winning their first French national title in their nearly century-long history, defeating defending champions Perpignan 19–6 in a rematch of last season's final. This result ended decades of frustration for Les Jaunards and their supporters, who had previously tasted defeat in all 10 of their previous final-game appearances.
Teams
ClubCity (department)StadiumCapacityPrevious season Albi Albi (Tarn) Stadium Municipal d'Albi 13,058 Promoted from Pro D2 (play-offs) Bayonne Bayonne (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) Stade Jean Dauger 16,934 7th Biarritz Biarritz (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) Parc des Sports Aguiléra 15,000 5th Bourgoin Bourgoin-Jallieu (Isère) Stade Pierre Rajon 9,441 11th Brive Brive-la-Gaillarde (Corrèze) Stade Amédée-Domenech 15,000 6th Castres Castres (Tarn) Stade Pierre-Fabre 11,500 12th Clermont Clermont-Ferrand (Puy-de-Dôme) Stade Marcel-Michelin 16,574 Runners up (3rd in league) Montauban Montauban (Tarn-et-Garonne) Stade Sapiac 12,600 8th Montpellier Montpellier (Hérault) Stade Yves-du-Manoir 15,789 10th Perpignan Perpignan (Pyrénées-Orientales) Stade Aimé Giral 16,593 Champions (1st in league) Racing Métro Colombes (Hauts-de-Seine) Stade Olympique Yves-du-Manoir 14,000 Promoted from Pro D2 (champions) Stade Français Paris, 16th arrondissement Stade Jean-Bouin 12,000 Semi-finals (4th in league) Toulon Toulon (Var) Stade Mayol 13,800 9th Toulouse Toulouse (Haute-Garonne) Stade Ernest-Wallon 19,500 Semi-finals (2nd in league)
Managerial changes On 8 September, Stade Français sacked head coach Ewen McKenzie and his assistant Christophe Dominici after a disastrous start to the season put the Parisians in the drop zone. Jacques Delmas and Didier Faugeron were named as co-head coaches. Dominici, who owns a small stake in the club, was expected to remain in some capacity. (Stade Français quickly exited relegation danger, scoring bonus-point wins in three of their next four matches.) On 26 October, struggling Brive, lying just above the drop zone at the time, sacked head coach Laurent Seigne. The move came a week after honorary club president Patrick Sébastien resigned. Ugo Mola, previously backs coach for Brive, was promoted to the head coaching position. On 7 November, Richard Dourthe resigned at Bayonne after a run of defeats put them in the drop zone. Club president Francis Salagoïty announced later that day that Thierry Mentières and Jean-Philippe Coyola would serve as co-head coaches. On 19 March, Stade Français announced a reorganisation effective at the end of the 2009–10 season. Michael Cheika, whose contract with Celtic League side Leinster expires at the end of this season, signed a three-year deal to become Director of Rugby and effective head coach from 2010 to 2011.
Captains and head coaches
ClubCaptainHead Coach Albi Vincent Clément Jean Christophe Bacca Philippe Laurent Bayonne Rémy Martin Christian Gajan Biarritz Jérôme Thion Jack Isaac Jean-Michel Gonzalez Bourgoin Julien Frier Éric Catinot Xavier Péméja Brive Fabrice Estebanez Ugo Mola Christophe Laussucq Castres Alexandre Albouy Sébastien Tillous-Borde Laurent Labit Laurent Travers Clermont Aurélien Rougerie Vern Cotter Montauban Matthew Clarkin Sébastien Calvet Marc Raynaud Montpellier Fulgence Ouedraogo Warren Britz Perpignan Nicolas Mas Jacques Brunel Racing Métro Lionel Nallet Pierre Berbizier Stade Français Rodrigo Roncero Jacques Delmas Didier Faugeron Toulon Joe van Niekerk Philippe Saint-André Toulouse Thierry Dusautoir Guy Novès
Competition format Each club played every other club twice. The second half of the season is conducted in the same order as the first, with the club at home in the first half of the season away in the second. This season introduced a new format for the knockout stage: the top two teams qualify directly to the semifinals, while teams ranked from third to sixth qualify for a quarterfinal held at the homeground of the higher-ranked team. The semifinals are then held at neutral sites, with the final being played at the Stade de France. This replaced the classical format consisting of semifinals between the top four teams held at neutral sites.
Going into the season, the top six clubs were guaranteed of berths in the 2010–11 Heineken Cup. The winners of the 2009–10 Heineken Cup and European Challenge Cup are assured of berths in the 2010–11 Heineken Cup regardless of their league standing. This means that if a club finishes in the top six and wins one of the European competitions, the seventh-place team will gain a Heineken Cup berth. However, if French clubs win both competitions, only five clubs will qualify for the 2010–11 Heineken Cup via their league position because France is capped at seven Heineken Cup places. France can also secure a seventh berth if clubs from England's Guinness Premiership, also capped at seven Heineken Cup places, win both Cup competitions, and the top club in the European Rugby Club Rankings among those not already qualified for the Heineken Cup is from the Top 14. As it turned out, France earned a seventh berth when Toulouse won the Heineken Cup; because Toulouse had finished fourth on the regular-season table, the extra berth went to seventh-place Biarritz, who were also their opponent in the Heineken Cup final.
The bottom two teams are provisionally relegated to Pro D2, with the possibility of one or both of the bottom teams to be reprieved if a team above them fails a postseason financial audit (mandatory for all clubs in the league).
The LNR used a slightly different bonus points system from that used in most other rugby competitions. It trialled a new system in 2007–08 explicitly designed to prevent a losing team from earning more than one bonus point in a match, a system that also made it impossible for either team to earn a bonus point in a drawn match. The LNR chose to continue with this system for subsequent seasons.
France's bonus point system operated as follows:
4 points for a win. 2 points for a draw. 1 "bonus" point for winning while scoring at least 3 more tries than the opponent. This replaces the standard bonus point for scoring 4 tries regardless of the match result. 1 "bonus" point for losing by 7 points (or less).
Table
Fixtures & Results Round 1
Round 2
Round 3
Postponed after six Castres players were diagnosed with H1N1 flu. Game rescheduled to 16 September 2009.
Round 4
Game postponed due to the H1N1 outbreak in the Castres side. Game to be rescheduled for 29 September 2009.
Round 5
Round 6
Round 3 (rescheduled game)
Game rescheduled from 29 August 2009.
Round 7
Round 8
Round 4 (rescheduled game)
Game rescheduled from 2 September 2009.
Round 9
Round 10
Round 11
Round 12
Postponed due to unplayable pitch. Game rescheduled to 2 December 2009.
Round 13
Round 14
Game postponed after Perpignan reported that seven of their traveling party (including both players and coaches) were diagnosed with H1N1 flu. Game to be rescheduled for 5 February 2010.
Round 12 (rescheduled game)
Game rescheduled from 5 November 2009.
Round 15
Round 16
Round 17
Round 18
Postponed due to unplayable conditions. Game rescheduled to 27 February 2010.
Round 19
Round 14 (rescheduled game)
Game rescheduled from 28 November 2009.
Round 20
Round 18 (rescheduled game)
Game rescheduled from 9 January 2010.
Round 21
Round 22
Round 23
Round 24
Round 25
Round 26
Playoffs
All times are in Central European Summer Time (UTC+2).
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final
FB 15 Jérôme PoricalRW 14 Christophe ManasOC 13 David MartyIC 12 Maxime MermozLW 11 Adrien PlantéFH 10 Gavin Hume SH 9 Nicolas Durand N8 8 Henry Tuilagi OF 7 Jean-Pierre Pérez BF 6 Ovidiu TonițaRL 5 Robins Tchale-Watchou LL 4 Olivier OlibeauTP 3 Nicolas Mas (c) HK 2 Guilhem Guirado LP 1 Perry Freshwater Replacements:HK 16 Marius Țincu PR 17 Jérôme Schuster LK 18 Guillaume Vilaceca FL 19 Grégory Le Corvec SH 20 David Mélé CE 21 Jean-Philippe Grandclaude FH 22 Nicolas Laharrague PR 23 Kisi Pulu Coach: Jacques Brunel
FB 15 Anthony FlochRW 14 Napolioni NalagaOC 13 Aurélien Rougerie (c)IC 12 Marius JoubertLW 11 Julien MalzieuFH 10 Brock JamesSH 9 Morgan ParraN8 8 Elvis VermeulenOF 7 Alexandre Lapandry BF 6 Julien BonnaireRL 5 Thibaut Privat LL 4 Jamie CudmoreTP 3 Martín Scelzo HK 2 Mario Ledesma LP 1 Thomas DomingoReplacements:HK 16 Benoît Cabello PR 17 Vincent DebatyLK 18 Julien Pierre FL 19 Alexandre Audebert SH 20 Kevin SenioFH 21 Tasesa LaveaCE 22 Gonzalo CanalePR 23 Davit Zirakashvili Coach: Vern Cotter
Leading scorers Note that points scorers includes tries as well as conversions, penalties and drop goals.
Top points scorers
Rank Player Club Points 1 Romain Teulet Castres 263 2 Jonny Wilkinson Toulon 230 3 Brock James Clermont 225 4 Jonathan Wisniewski Racing Métro 183 5 Jérôme Porical Perpignan 181 6 Federico Todeschini Montpellier 167 7 Cédric Rosalen Montauban 166 8 Lionel Beauxis Stade Français 159 9 Benjamin Boyet Bourgoin 159 10 Dimitri Yachvili Biarritz 150
Top try scorers Rank Player Club Tries 1 Sam Gerber Bayonne 9 2 Napolioni Nalaga Clermont 8 3 Vincent Clerc Toulouse 7 Benjamin Fall Bayonne 7 Anthony Floch Clermont 7 Mark Gasnier Stade Français 7 Takudzwa Ngwenya Biarritz 7 François Trinh Duc Montpellier 7 4 Sireli Bobo Racing Métro 6 Chris Masoe Castres 6 Jean-Baptiste Peyras-Loustalet Bayonne 6 Ollie Phillips Stade Français 6 Jérôme Porical Perpignan 6 Farid Sid Perpignan 6 Iosefa Tekori Castres 6
Awards
Player of the Month Players were selected by fan vote from a three-player shortlist on the official LNR site, and the results are posted roughly in the middle of the following month. MonthPlayer of the MonthClubAugust Joe van Niekerk ToulonSeptember Jonny Wilkinson ToulonOctober Julien Candelon PerpignanNovemberNot awarded — Test window
Attendances
Attendances do not include the semi-finals or final as these are at neutral venues.