2017–18 Top 14 season

The 2017–18 Top 14 competition was the 119th French domestic rugby union club competition operated by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR). Two new teams from the 2016–17 Pro D2 season were promoted to Top 14 (Oyonnax and Agen) in place of the two relegated teams, Grenoble and Bayonne. It marks the second time in a row that both promoted teams had returned on their first opportunity after relegation (Oyonnax and Agen were both relegated during the 2015–16 Top 14 season).

Teams

ClubCity (department)StadiumCapacity Agen Agen (Lot-et-Garonne) Stade Armandie 14,000 Bordeaux Bègles Bordeaux (Gironde) Stade Chaban-DelmasMatmut Atlantique 34,69442,115 Brive Brive-la-Gaillarde (Corrèze) Stade Amédée-Domenech 13,979 Castres Castres (Tarn) Stade Pierre-Fabre 12,500 Clermont Clermont-Ferrand (Puy-de-Dôme) Stade Marcel-Michelin 19,022 La Rochelle La Rochelle (Charente-Maritime) Stade Marcel-Deflandre 16,000 Lyon Lyon (Métropole de Lyon) Matmut Stadium de Gerland 25,000 Montpellier Montpellier (Hérault) Altrad Stadium 15,697 Oyonnax Oyonnax (Ain) Stade Charles-Mathon 11,400 Pau Pau (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) Stade du Hameau 18,324 Racing 92 Nanterre (Hauts-de-Seine) Stade Olympique Yves-du-ManoirU Arena 14,00030,681 Stade Français Paris, 16th arrondissement Stade Jean-Bouin 20,000 Toulon Toulon (Var) Stade Mayol 18,200 Toulouse Toulouse (Haute-Garonne) Stade Ernest-Wallon 19,500

Number of teams by regions Teams Region or country Team(s)5Agen, Bordeaux Bègles, Brive, La Rochelle, and Pau3Clermont, Lyon, and OyonnaxCastres, Montpellier, and Toulouse2Racing 92 and Stade Français1Toulon

Competition format The top six teams at the end of the regular season (after all the teams played one another twice, once at home, once away) enter a knockout stage to decide the Champions of France. This consists of three rounds: the teams finishing third to sixth in the table play quarter-finals (hosted by the third and fourth placed teams). The winners then face the top two teams in the semi-finals, with the winners meeting in the final at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis.

The LNR uses 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. LNR chose to continue with this system for subsequent seasons.

France's bonus point system operates 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 5 points (or fewer). The margin had been 7 points until being changed prior to the 2014–15 season.

Table 2017–18 Top 14 TableClubPlayedWonDrawnLostPoints ForPoints AgainstPoints Try BonusLosing BonusPoints 1 Montpellier (RU) 26 17 0 9 752 559 +193 12 1 81 2 Racing (SF) 26 18 0 8 622 478 +144 5 3 80 3 Toulouse (QF) 26 16 1 9 719 595 +124 4 4 74 4 Toulon (QF) 26 14 0 12 766 507 +259 9 8 73 5 Lyon (SF) 26 15 0 11 689 541 +148 7 3 70 6 Castres (C) 26 15 0 11 638 624 +14 4 5 69 7 La Rochelle 26 14 1 11 686 531 +155 6 3 67 8 Pau 26 15 0 11 590 584 +6 2 4 66 9 Clermont 26 11 1 14 629 687 –58 4 4 54 10 Bordeaux Bègles 26 10 1 15 557 623 –66 3 3 48 11 Agen 26 10 0 16 537 757 –220 2 4 46 12 Stade Français 26 9 0 17 540 740 –200 2 4 42 13 Oyonnax (R) 26 7 3 16 566 824 –258 1 4 39 14 Brive (R) 26 7 1 18 485 726 –241 1 5 36If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order: Competition points earned in head-to-head matches Points difference in head-to-head matches Try differential in head-to-head matches Points difference in all matches Try differential in all matches Points scored in all matches Tries scored in all matches Fewer matches forfeited Classification in the previous Top 14 season Green background (rows 1 and 2) receive semi-final play-off places and receive berths in the 2018–19 European Rugby Champions Cup.Blue background (rows 3 to 6) receive quarter-final play-off places, and receive berths in the Champions Cup.Plain background indicates teams that earn a place in the 2018–19 European Rugby Challenge Cup.Pink background (row 13) will be contest a play-off with the runners-up of the 2017–18 Rugby Pro D2 season for a place in the 2018–19 Top 14 season.Red background (row 14) will be relegated to Rugby Pro D2. Final table

Relegation Starting from the 2017–18 season forward, only the 14th placed team will be automatically relegated to Pro D2. The 13th placed team will face the runner-up of the Pro D2 play-off, with the winner of that play-off taking up the final place in Top 14 for the following season.

Fixtures and results Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Round 7

Round 8

Round 9

Round 10

Round 11

Round 12

Round 13

Round 14

Round 15

Round 16

Round 17

Round 18

Round 19

Round 20

Round 21

Round 22

Round 23

Round 24

Round 25

Round 26

Relegation playoff The team finishing in 13th place faces the runner-up of the Pro D2, with the winner of this match playing in Top 14 in 2018–19 and the loser in Pro D2.

Grenoble won and were promoted to Top 14, while Oyonnax were relegated to Pro D2.

Playoffs

Semi-final Qualifiers

Under LNR rules, when a playoff game ends level after extra time, the first tiebreaker is tries scored. Lyon advanced with 2 tries to Toulon's 1.

Semi-finals

Final

Leading scorers Note: Flags to the left of player names indicate national team as has been defined under World Rugby eligibility rules, or primary nationality for players who have not yet earned international senior caps. Players may hold one or more non-WR nationalities.

Top points scorers

Rank Player ClubPoints 1 Ben Botica Oyonnax 315 2 Castres 297 3 Thomas Ramos Toulouse 277 4 Ruan Pienaar Montpellier 193 5 Jules Plisson 184 6 Tom Taylor Pau 181 7 Anthony Belleau Toulon 180 8 Jake McIntyre Agen 179 9 Lionel Beauxis Lyon 167 10 Morgan Parra Clermont 142

Top try scorers

Rank Player ClubTries 1 Chris Ashton Toulon 24 2 Nemani Nadolo Montpellier 193 Toby Arnold Lyon12 Armand Batlle Castres Julien Dumora Castres Louis Picamoles Montpellier7 Juan Imhoff Racing 9211 Watisoni Votu Pau10 Baptiste Couilloud Lyon10 Yoann Huget Toulouse Cheslin Kolbe Toulouse Josua Tuisova Toulon

Attendances

Attendances do not include the semi-finals or final as these are at neutral venues.

ClubHomeGamesTotalAverageHighestLowest% Capacity Agen 13 102,345 7,873 12,517 6,104 56% Bordeaux Bègles 13 285,432 21,956 36,253 18,251 60% Brive 13 134,574 10,352 12,412 9,447 74% Castres 13 130,036 10,003 12,258 8,691 80% Clermont 13 222,101 17,085 18,801 13,950 90% La Rochelle 13 206,751 15,904 16,000 15,000 99% Lyon 13 184,041 14,157 19,205 10,069 57% Montpellier 13 144,589 11,122 15,034 8,928 71% Oyonnax 13 114,775 8,829 11,400 7,345 77% Pau 13 184,105 14,162 18,300 10,000 77% Racing 92 13 172,581 13,275 29,347 5,830 62% Stade Francais 13 139,175 10,706 15,350 5,678 54% Toulon 14 250,116 17,865 42,000 13,500 86% Toulouse 14 217,835 15,560 18,838 10,816 80%

See also 2017–18 Rugby Pro D2 season

Notes

References