The 2021–22 Top 14 competition was the 123rd French domestic rugby union club competition operated by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR).

Teams

ClubCity (department)StadiumCapacityPrevious season Biarritz Biarritz (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) Parc des Sports Aguiléra 15,000 Promoted from Pro D2 (play-off accession and 3rd in league) Bordeaux Bègles Bordeaux (Gironde) Stade Chaban-Delmas 33,500 Semi-finals (4th in league) Brive Brive-la-Gaillarde (Corrèze) Stade Amédée-Domenech 13,979 11th Castres Castres (Tarn) Stade Pierre-Fabre 12,500 7th Clermont Clermont-Ferrand (Puy-de-Dôme) Stade Marcel-Michelin 19,022 Quarter-finals (5th in league) La Rochelle La Rochelle (Charente-Maritime) Stade Marcel-Deflandre 16,000 2nd Lyon Lyon (Métropole de Lyon) Matmut Stadium de Gerland 25,000 9th Montpellier Montpellier (Hérault) Altrad Stadium 15,697 10th Pau Pau (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) Stade du Hameau 18,324 12th Perpignan Perpignan (Pyrénées-Orientales) Stade Aimé Giral 14,593 Promoted from Pro D2 (champions and 1st in league) Racing Nanterre (Hauts-de-Seine) Paris La Défense Arena 30,681 Semi-finals (3rd in league) Stade Français Paris, 16th arrondissement Stade Jean-Bouin 20,000 Quarter-finals (6th in league) Toulon Toulon (Var) Stade Mayol 18,200 8th Toulouse Toulouse (Haute-Garonne) Stade Ernest-Wallon 18,784 1st Number of teams by region Teams Region or country Team(s)5Biarritz, Bordeaux Bègles, Brive, La Rochelle, Pau4Castres, Montpellier, Perpignan, 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 scoring at least 3 more tries than the opponent. This replaces the standard bonus point for scoring 4 tries regardless of the opponent scoring. 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

Relegation From the 2017–18 season, only the 14th placed team is automatically relegated to the Pro D2. The 13th placed team play the runner-up of the Pro D2 play-off, with the winner taking up the final place in the 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

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 2022–23 Top 14 and the loser in the 2022–23 Pro D2.

Perpignan won and therefore both clubs remained in their respective leagues.

Playoffs

Semi-final Qualifiers

Semi-finals

Final

FB 15 Julien DumoraRW 14 Geoffrey PalisOC 13 Thomas CombezouIC 12 Vilimoni BotituLW 11 Filipo NakosiFH 10 Benjamín UrdapilletaSH 9 Santiago ArataN8 8 Teariki Ben-NicholasOF 7 Nick Champion de CrespignyBF 6 Mathieu Babillot (c)RL 5 Tom StaniforthLL 4 Florent VanverbergheTP 3 Wilfrid HounkpatinHK 2 Gaëtan BarlotLP 1 Quentin WalckerSubstitutions:HK 16 Paul NgauamoPR 17 Wayan De BendittisLK 18 Loïc JacquetBR 19 Baptiste DelaporteSH 20 Jérémy FernandezCE 21 Adrea CocagiCE 22 Antoine ZeghdarPR 23 Levan Chilachava Coach: Pierre-Henry Broncan FB 15 Anthony BouthierRW 14 Arthur VincentOC 13 Geoffrey DoumayrouIC 12 Jan SerfonteinLW 11 Vincent RattezFH 10 Paolo GarbisiSH 9 Benoît PaillaugueN8 8 Zach MercerOF 7 Yacouba Camara (c)BF 6 Alexandre BécognéeRL 5 Bastien ChalureauLL 4 Florian VerhaegheTP 3 Mohamed HaouasHK 2 Guilhem GuiradoLP 1 Titi LamositeleSubstitutions:HK 16 Brandon Paenga-AmosaPR 17 Robert Rodgers LK 18 Mickaël CapelliLK 19 Nico Janse van RensburgSH 20 Gela AprasidzeWG 21 Gabriel N'GandebeFH 22 Handré PollardPR 23 Henry ThomasCoach: Philippe Saint-André

See also 2021–22 Rugby Pro D2 season

Notes

References