The 2019–20 Top 14 competition was the 121st French domestic rugby union club competition operated by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR). Two new teams from the 2018–19 Pro D2 season were promoted to Top 14 (Bayonne and Brive) in place of the two relegated teams, Perpignan and Grenoble. Playing was suspended after the 17th Matchday due to the COVID-19 pandemic in France. The season was officially cancelled without any winner or relegation/promotion on 6 May.

Teams

ClubCity (department)StadiumCapacityPrevious season Agen Agen (Lot-et-Garonne) Stade Armandie 13,863 12th Bayonne Bayonne (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) Stade Jean Dauger 16,934 Promoted from Pro D2 (champions and 3rd in league) Bordeaux Bègles Bordeaux (Gironde) Stade Chaban-Delmas 33,500 10th Brive Brive-la-Gaillarde (Corrèze) Stade Amédée-Domenech 13,979 Promoted from Pro D2 (play-off accession and 1st in league) Castres Castres (Tarn) Stade Pierre-Fabre 12,500 7th Clermont Clermont-Ferrand (Puy-de-Dôme) Stade Marcel-Michelin 19,022 Runners up (2nd in league) La Rochelle La Rochelle (Charente-Maritime) Stade Marcel-Deflandre 16,000 Semi-finals (5th in league) Lyon Lyon (Métropole de Lyon) Matmut Stadium de Gerland 25,000 Semi-finals (3rd in league) Montpellier Montpellier (Hérault) Altrad Stadium 15,697 Quarter-finals (6th in league) Pau Pau (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) Stade du Hameau 18,324 11th Racing Nanterre (Hauts-de-Seine) Paris La Défense Arena 30,681 Quarter-finals (4th in league) Stade Français Paris, 16th arrondissement Stade Jean-Bouin 20,000 8th Toulon Toulon (Var) Stade Mayol 18,200 9th Toulouse Toulouse (Haute-Garonne) Stade Ernest-Wallon 18,754 Champions (1st in league)

Number of teams by region Teams Region or country Team(s)6Agen, Bayonne, Bordeaux Bègles, Brive, La Rochelle, Pau3Castres, Montpellier, Toulouse2Clermont, LyonRacing, 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 2019–20 Top 14 TableClubPlayedWonDrawnLostPoints ForPoints AgainstPoints Try BonusLosing BonusPoints 1 Bordeaux Bègles 17 13 1 3 475 317 +158 6 1 61 2 Lyon 17 12 0 5 463 304 +159 5 0 53 3 Racing 17 9 1 7 451 326 +125 5 3 46 4 Toulon 17 9 2 6 396 334 +62 3 2 45 5 La Rochelle 17 9 0 8 370 377 –7 3 3 42 6 Clermont 17 10 0 7 423 415 +8 1 0 41 7 Toulouse 17 8 1 8 368 331 +37 4 2 40 8 Montpellier 17 6 3 8 404 390 +14 2 5 37 9 Bayonne 17 7 1 9 327 409 –82 0 3 33 10 Castres 17 7 0 10 392 460 –68 3 2 33 11 Brive 17 7 1 9 364 439 –75 1 2 33 12 Pau 17 6 0 11 334 414 –80 0 4 28 13 Agen 17 5 1 11 323 414 –91 0 4 26 14 Stade Français 17 5 1 11 328 488 –160 0 3 25If 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 to 8) receive berths in the 2020–21 European Rugby Champions Cup.Plain background indicates teams that earn a place in the 2020–21 European Rugby Challenge Cup. 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

Positions by round The table lists the positions of teams after each week of matches. In order to preserve chronological evolvements, any postponed matches are not included to the round at which they were originally scheduled, but added to the full round they were played immediately afterwards.

Results by round

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 ClubGamesPoints 1 Thomas Laranjeira Brive 14 181 2 Anthony Belleau Toulon 15 171 3 Antoine Hastoy Pau 14 139 4 Teddy Iribaren Racing 16 126 5 Julien Dumora Castres 12 123 6 Jonathan Wisniewski Lyon 12 122 7 Jake McIntyre Clermont 9 109 8 Ben Botica Bordeaux Bègles 13 101 9 Matthieu Jalibert Bordeaux Bègles 9 97 10 Zack Holmes Toulouse 8 94

Top try scorers

Rank Player ClubGamesTries 1 Arthur Retière La Rochelle 13 9 2 Nemani Nadolo Montpellier 7 7 Kylan Hamdaoui Stade Français 16 7 Thomas Combezou Castres 17 7 5 Teddy Thomas Racing 7 6 Xavier Mignot Lyon 12 6 Juan Imhoff Racing 13 6 8 Semi Radradra Bordeaux Bègles 9 5 Loris Tolot Agen 10 5 Martin Laveau Castres 12 5 Anthony Bouthier Montpellier 13 5 Daniel Ikpefan Toulon 13 5 Joris Jurand Brive 14 5 Thibaut Regard Lyon 14 5 Toby Arnold Lyon 15 5 Samuel Marques Pau 15 5 Johann Sadie Agen 15 5

Attendances

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

ClubHomeGamesTotalAverageHighestLowest% Capacity Agen 9 74,809 8,312 13,500 6,009 59% Bayonne 9 129,795 14,422 16,630 12,517 85% Bordeaux Bègles 9 220,662 24,518 38,503 17,172 68% Brive 9 97,306 10,812 12,273 9,457 68% Castres 8 79,525 9,941 10,724 9,325 80% Clermont 8 134,530 16,816 18,804 14,957 88% La Rochelle 8 128,000 16,000 16,000 16,000 100% Lyon 9 130,301 14,478 16,256 10,778 58% Montpellier 8 91,738 11,467 16,153 8,000 63% Pau 9 100,752 11,195 16,153 8,000 61% Racing 9 135,384 15,043 26,292 7,102 49% Stade Francais 7 72,499 10,357 14,050 8,000 52% Toulon 9 122,371 13,597 17,287 12,124 75% Toulouse 8 167,253 20,907 33,000 14,573 90%

See also 2019–20 Rugby Pro D2 season

Notes

References