The 1996–97 French Rugby Union Championship was played by 20 teams
Stade Toulousain won their 14th title, beating Bourgoin in the final.
Preliminary round
The 20 team were divided in the preliminary phase in two pools of 10. The first eight team of each pool were admitted to "Round of 16". The last two were relegated in second division.
Pool 1 Pos Team Pts 1 Bourgoin 45 2 Agen 43 3 Toulouse 42 4 Dax 42 5 Castres 40 6 Biarritz 37 7 Grenoble 32 8 Béziers 30 9 Nîmes 25 10 Périgueux 24 Pool 2 Pos Team Pts 1 Brive 43 2 Montferrand 41 3 Perpignan 41 4 Pau 39 5 Bègles-Bordeaux 38 6 Narbonne 38 7 Toulon 38 8 Colomiers 36 9 Paris Université Club 24 10 Dijon 22
Last 16
may ‘97Toulouse-Narbonne24–22 may ‘97Brive-Colomiers31–36 may ‘97Grenoble-Agen27–27 may ‘97Perpignan-Bordeaux-Begles26–29 may ‘97Bourgoin-Beziers23–14 may ‘97Pau-Castres23–20 may ‘97Montferrand-Toulon12–6 may ‘97Dax-Biarritz22–18
Last 8 may ‘97Toulouse-Colomiers21–12 may ‘97Agen-Bordeaux-Begles22–18 may ‘97Bourgoin-Pau24–18 may ‘97Montferrand-Dax22–18
Semifinals may ‘97Toulouse-Agen23–16 may ‘97Bourgoin-Montferrand21–17
Final
FB 15 Stéphane OugierRW 14 Michel Marfaing OC 13 Nicolas Martin IC 12 Thomas Castaignède LW 11 David BertyFH 10 Christophe Deylaud (c)SH 9 Jérôme Cazalbou N8 8 Sylvain Dispagne OF 7 Régis SonnesBF 6 Didier Lacroix RL 5 Franck BelotLL 4 Hugues Miorin TP 3 Jean-Louis Jordana HK 2 Patrick Soula LP 1 Christian Califano Substitutions:HK 16 Philippe Capelleri PR 17 Pascal Lasserre LK 18 David Couzinet FL 19 Jean-Marie Bisaro SH 20 Julien Tilloles CE 21 Olivier Carbonneau FB 22 Xavier Garbajosa Coach: Guy Novès FB 15 Nigel Geany RW 14 Laurent Leflamand OC 13 Alexandre Péclier IC 12 Stéphane Glas LW 11 Ludovic SaunierFH 10 Gilles Cassagne SH 9 Dominique Mazille N8 8 Pierre Raschi OF 7 Michel Malafosse BF 6 Alexandre Chazalet RL 5 Jean Daudé LL 4 Marc Cécillon (c) TP 3 David Morgan HK 2 Jean-Pierre Sanchez LP 1 Philippe Vessiller Substitutions:HK 16 Jean-François Martin-Culet PR 17 Laurent Gomez LK 18 Frédéric Nibelle N8 19 Julien Frier SH 20 Nicolas Guilhot CE 21 Pascal Fernandez WG 22 Laurent Belligoi Coach: Michel Couturas
References