The 2023–24 Top 14 competition is the 125th French domestic rugby union club competition operated by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR).
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 Vélodrome in Marseille. 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.
From the 2017–18 season onwards, 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.
Teams
Fourteen clubs competed in the 2023–24 Top 14 season, 13 of them returning. Brive were relegated to Pro D2 after finishing at the bottom of the table the previous season. Oyonnax were the sole promoted club, finishing first in the Pro D2 the previous season and winning the Pro D2 playoffs. Perpignan, who finished 13th in the previous Top 14 season, defeated Grenoble in the relegation playoffs to retain their place.
+ 2023–24 Top 14 clubs Club City Stadium Capacity Bayonne Bayonne Stade Jean Dauger 16,934 Bordeaux Bègles Bordeaux Stade Chaban-Delmas 33,500 Castres Castres Stade Pierre-Fabre 12,500 Clermont Clermont-Ferrand Stade Marcel-Michelin 19,022 La Rochelle La Rochelle Stade Marcel-Deflandre 16,700 Lyon Lyon Matmut Stadium de Gerland 25,000 Montpellier Montpellier Altrad Stadium 15,697 Oyonnax Oyonnax Stade Charles-Mathon 11,500 Pau Pau Stade du Hameau 14,588 Perpignan Perpignan Stade Aimé Giral 14,593 Racing Nanterre Paris La Défense Arena 30,681 Stade Français Paris Stade Jean-Bouin 20,000 Toulon Toulon Stade Mayol 18,200 Toulouse Toulouse Stade Ernest-Wallon 18,754
Table
Regular season
Relegation play-off
Montpellier won and therefore both clubs remained in their respective leagues.
Playoffs Bracket
Semi-final Qualifiers
Semi-finals
Final
FB 15 Thomas RamosRW 14 Juan Cruz MallíaOC 13 Santiago ChocobaresIC 12 Pita AhkiLW 11 Blair KinghornFH 10 Romain NtamackSH 9 Antoine Dupont (c)N8 8 Alexandre RoumatOF 7 Jack Willis BF 6 Francois CrosRL 5 Thibaud Flament LL 4 Richie ArnoldTP 3 Dorian AldegheriHK 2 Peato MauvakaLP 1 Rodrigue NetiSubstitutions:HK 16 Julien MarchandPR 17 David AinuʻuLK 18 Clément VergéN8 19 Joshua BrennanFL 20 Paul GraouCE21 Ange CapuozzoWG 22 Paul CostesPR 23 Joël MerklerCoach: Ugo Mola FB 15 Romain BurosRW 14 Damian PenaudOC 13 Nicolas DepoortèreIC 12 Yoram MoefanaLW 11 Louis Bielle-BiarreyFH 10 Matthieu JalibertSH 9 Maxime Lucu (c)N8 8 Tevita TatafuOF 7 Mahamadou DiabyBF 6 Bastien Vergnes-TailleferRL 5 Adam ColemanLL 4 Cyril CazeauxTP 3 Ben Tameifuna HK 2 Maxime LamotheLP 1 Jefferson PoirotSubstitutions:HK 16 Clément MaynadierPR 17 Ugo BonifaceLK 18 Kane DouglasFL 19 Pierre BochatonFL20 Pete SamuFH 21 Paul AbadieCE 22 Pablo UbertiPR 23 Toma'akino TaufaCoach: Yannick Bru
Leading scorers
Most tries
Rank Player Club Tries 1 Baptiste Couilloud 17 2 Damian Penaud 14 3 Tavite Veredamu 12 4 Bautista Delguy 11 5 Toulouse 10 Alivereti Raka Clermont
Attendances ClubHomeGamesTotal Average Bayonne 13 193,120 14,855 Bordeaux Bègles 13 361,677 27,821 Castres 13 130,668 10,051 Clermont 13 217,673 16,744 La Rochelle 13 217,461 16,728 Lyon 13 230,226 17,710 Montpellier 13 140,658 10,820 Oyonnax 13 119,029 9,156 Pau 13 164,379 12,645 Perpignan 13 175,927 13,533 Racing 13 154,100 11,854 Stade Français 13 180,605 13,893 Toulon 13 222,293 17,099 Toulouse 13 268,135 20,626
See also List of 2023–24 Top 14 transfers 2023–24 Rugby Pro D2 season
References