The 2018–19 Top 14 competition was the 120th season of the French domestic rugby union club competition operated by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR). Two new teams from the 2017–18 Pro D2 season were promoted to Top 14 (Perpignan and Grenoble) in place of the two relegated teams, Oyonnax and Brive.
On 27 April 2019, Perpignan were relegated after they lost at home to La Rochelle, condemning the newly promoted side to the drop with three games still to play. At one point it looked like Perpignan might go through the whole season without a win but they achieved a victory on 16 February 2019 against Montpellier. They will be joined in 2018–19 Rugby Pro D2 by Grenoble, who lost the relegation playoff game, 22-28, to Brive. Brive and Rugby Pro D2 champions, Bayonne, will play in the 2019–20 Top 14.
The Top 14 final was contested between the top two teams in the league stage – Toulouse (1st) and Clermont (2nd) – who both won their semi-finals. In the end it was Toulouse who triumphed at the Stade de France, seeing out a 24-18 victory to win its 20th title and the clubs first since 2012. It was a victory for Le Stade, who were head and shoulders the team in the league, finishing 15 points clear of Clermont and beating them twice out of three meetings (the other result was a draw). Despite missing out on the title, Clermont, who massively improved on 2017-18 when they finished 9th, and also won the 2018–19 European Rugby Challenge Cup.
In terms of attendances, the Top 14 once again proved to be the most popular rugby union league in the world, with over 2.7 million supporters watching games that season. This was an average of 14,624 per game, slightly higher than the second best supported league - the 2018–19 English Premiership - which had an average of 14,507.
Teams
ClubCity (department)StadiumCapacityPrevious season Agen Agen (Lot-et-Garonne) Stade Armandie 14,000 11th Bordeaux Bègles Bordeaux (Gironde) Stade Chaban-Delmas 34,694 10th Castres Castres (Tarn) Stade Pierre-Fabre 12,500 Champions (6th in league) Clermont Clermont-Ferrand (Puy-de-Dôme) Stade Marcel-Michelin 19,022 9th Grenoble Grenoble (Isère) Stade des Alpes 20,068 Promoted from Pro D2 (play-off) La Rochelle La Rochelle (Charente-Maritime) Stade Marcel-Deflandre 16,000 7th Lyon Lyon (Métropole de Lyon) Matmut Stadium de Gerland 25,000 Semi-finals (5th in league) Montpellier Montpellier (Hérault) Altrad Stadium 15,697 Runners up (1st in league) Pau Pau (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) Stade du Hameau 18,324 8th Perpignan Perpignan (Pyrénées-Orientales) Stade Aimé Giral 14,593 Promoted from Pro D2 (champions) Racing Nanterre (Hauts-de-Seine) Paris La Défense Arena 30,681 Semi-finals (2nd in league) Stade Français Paris, 16th arrondissement Stade Jean-Bouin 20,000 12th Toulon Toulon (Var) Stade Mayol 18,200 Quarter-finals (4th in league) Toulouse Toulouse (Haute-Garonne) Stade Ernest-Wallon 19,500 Quarter-finals (3rd in league)
Number of teams by region Teams Region or country Team(s)4Agen, Bordeaux Bègles, La Rochelle, and PauCastres, Montpellier, Perpignan, and Toulouse3Clermont, Grenoble, and Lyon2Racing 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 2018–19 Top 14 TableClubPlayedWonDrawnLostPoints ForPoints AgainstPoints Try BonusLosing BonusPoints 1 Toulouse (CH) 26 21 2 3 820 508 +312 9 1 98 2 Clermont (RU) 26 16 3 7 828 535 +293 9 4 83 3 Lyon (SF) 26 17 1 8 683 525 +158 7 1 78 4 Racing (QF) 26 15 1 10 750 563 +187 8 4 74 5 La Rochelle (SF) 26 16 0 10 719 616 +103 6 1 71 6 Montpellier (QF) 26 14 1 11 659 546 +113 6 6 70 7 Castres 26 15 0 11 508 499 +9 4 5 69 8 Stade Français 26 14 0 12 583 579 +4 4 4 64 9 Toulon 26 12 0 14 572 542 +30 6 3 57 10 Bordeaux Bègles 26 12 1 13 618 711 –93 4 3 57 11 Pau 26 9 0 17 501 763 –262 2 5 43 12 Agen 26 8 1 17 431 654 –223 0 4 38 13 Grenoble (R) 26 5 2 19 448 691 –243 0 5 29 14 Perpignan (R) 26 2 0 24 433 821 –388 0 4 12If 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 2019–20 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 2019–20 European Rugby Challenge Cup.Pink background (row 13) will be contest a play-off with the runners-up of the 2018–19 Rugby Pro D2 season for a place in the 2019–20 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
Perpignan are relegated.
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 the 2019–20 Top 14 and the loser in the 2019–20 Pro D2.
Brive won and were promoted to Top 14, while Grenoble were relegated to Pro D2.
Playoffs
Semi-final Qualifiers
Semi-finals
Final
FB 15 Cheslin KolbeRW 14 Yoann Huget OC 13 Sofiane GuitouneIC 12 Pita Ahki LW 11 Maxime Médard FH 10 Thomas RamosSH 9 Antoine DupontN8 8 Jerome Kaino (c) OF 7 François CrosBF 6 Rynhardt ElstadtRL 5 Joe Tekori LL 4 Richie Arnold TP 3 Charlie Faumuina HK 2 Péato Mauvaka LP 1 Cyril Baille Substitutions:HK 16 Guillaume Marchand PR 17 Clément Castets BR 18 Piula Faʻasalele BR 19 Selevasio Tolofua LK 20 Richie Gray SH 21 Sébastien Bézy FH 22 Romain Ntamack PR 23 Maks van Dyk Coach: Ugo Mola FB 15 Isaia ToeavaRW 14 Damian PenaudOC 13 George Moala IC 12 Wesley FofanaLW 11 Alivereti Raka FH 10 Camille LopezSH 9 Greig Laidlaw N8 8 Fritz Lee (c)OF 7 Alexandre Lapandry BF 6 Judicaël CancorietRL 5 Sébastien Vahaamahina LL 4 Sitaleki Timani TP 3 Rabah Slimani HK 2 Benjamin Kayser LP 1 Étienne Falgoux Substitutions:HK 16 John Ulugia PR 17 Loni Uhila BR 18 Peceli Yato LK 19 Paul Jedrasiak SH 20 Charlie Cassang CE 21 Tim Nanai-Williams CE 22 Apisai Naqalevu PR 23 Davit Zirakashvili Coach: Franck Azéma
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 Club Points 1 Ihaia West La Rochelle 257 2 Thomas Ramos Toulouse 255 3 Jonathan Wisniewski Lyon 250 4 Benjamín Urdapilleta Castres 224 5 Gaëtan Germain Grenoble 223 6 Greig Laidlaw Clermont 205 7 Baptiste Serin Bordeaux Bègles 181 8 Colin Slade Pau 153 9 Benoît Paillaugue Montpellier 147 10 Jake McIntyre Agen 146
Top try scorers
Rank Player Club Tries 1 Virimi Vakatawa Racing 13 2 Sofiane Guitoune Toulouse 12 3 Simon Zebo Racing 11 4 Arthur Bonneval Toulouse 10 Charlie Ngatai Lyon 10 Peceli Yato Clermont 10 5 Gaël Fickou Stade Français 9 Yoann Huget Toulouse 9 Juan Imhoff Racing 9 George Moala Clermont 9 Damian Penaud Clermont 9 Louis Picamoles Montpellier 9 Vincent Rattez La Rochelle 9
Attendances
Attendances do not include the semi-finals or final as these are at neutral venues.
ClubHomeGamesTotalAverageHighestLowest% Capacity Agen 13 109,913 8,455 10,569 6,492 60% Bordeaux Bègles 13 265,315 20,409 30,127 13,273 58% Castres 13 140,994 10,846 12,500 9,700 87% Clermont 13 232,058 17,851 18,783 15,579 94% Grenoble 13 166,407 12,801 15,551 10,000 64% La Rochelle 13 207,983 15,999 16,000 15,983 100% Lyon 14 195,364 13,955 18,016 11,298 56% Montpellier 13 134,140 10,318 13,500 8,100 66% Pau 13 169,572 13,044 16,652 11,324 71% Perpignan 13 150,606 11,585 14,466 10,038 79% Racing 14 214,215 15,301 25,305 9,000 53% Stade Francais 13 133,812 10,293 15,500 6,100 51% Toulon 13 211,819 16,294 43,089 12,585 76% Toulouse 13 238,641 18,357 32,721 10,767 84%
See also 2018–19 Rugby Pro D2 season
Notes
References