The 2024–25 Top 14 competition was the 126th 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 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.
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 will compete in the 2024–25 Top 14 season, 13 of them returning. Oyonnax were relegated to Pro D2 after finishing at the bottom of the table the previous season. Vannes is the sole promoted club, finishing second in the Pro D2 the previous season and winning the Pro D2 playoffs. Montpellier, who finished 13th in the previous Top 14 season, defeated Grenoble in the relegation playoffs to retain their place.
+ 2024–25 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 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 Vannes Vannes Stade de la Rabine 11,500
Table
Relegation play-off
Perpignan 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 Pierre-Louis BarassiIC 12 Santiago ChocobaresLW 11 Blair KinghornFH 10 Romain NtamackSH 9 Paul Graou N8 8 Anthony JelonchOF 7 Jack Willis BF 6 Francois CrosRL 5 Thibaud FlamentLL 4 Joshua BrennanTP 3 Dorian AldegheriHK 2 Julien Marchand (c)LP 1 Rodrigue NetiSubstitutions:HK 16 Guillaume CramontPR 17 Cyril BailleLK 18 Emmanuel MeafouN8 19 Léo Banos FL 20 Naoto SaitoCE21 Pita AhkiWG 22 Matthis LebelPR 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 Peter SamuOF 7 Pierre BochatonBF 6 Marko GazzottiRL 5 Cyril CazeauxLL 4 Guido PettiTP 3 Ben Tameifuna HK 2 Maxime LamotheLP 1 Jefferson PoirotSubstitutions:HK 16 Connor SaPR 17 Matis PerchaudLK 18 Jonny GrayFL 19 Bastien Vergnes-TailleferFL20 Arthur RetièreFH 21 Joey CarberyCE 22 Rohan Janse van RensburgPR 23 Sipili FalateaCoach: Yannick Bru
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.
As of 11 May 2025
Most points Rank Player Club Points 1 Vannes 226 2 Joe Simmonds Pau 219 3 Léo Berdeu Lyon 192 4 Nolann Le Garrec 191 5 Thomas Ramos 165 6 Joris Segonds Bayonne 151 7 Louis Carbonel Stade Français 137 8 Antoine Hastoy La Rochelle 132 9 Tommaso Allan Perpignan 128 10 Louis Le Brun Castres 116
Most tries
Rank Player Club Tries 1 Gaël Dréan 12 2 Louis Bielle-Biarrey 10 Baptiste Couilloud Sireli Maqala 5 Ange Capuozzo 9 Nolann Le Garrec 8 Sekou Macalou 8 9 Emilien Gailleton 7 Feleti Kaitu'u Damian Penaud Teddy Thomas
Attendances
The top 5 clubs with the highest average home attendance in the 2024–25 Top 14 season:
# Club Average 1 Union Bordeaux Bègles 32,864 2 Stade toulousain 21,746 3 RC toulonnais 18,463 4 LOU Rugby 17,900 5 ASM Clermont Auvergne 17,837
Source:https://www.lequipe.fr/Rugby/Actualites/Plus-de-2-9-millions-de-spectateurs-ont-assiste-aux-matchs-de-la-saison-reguliere-de-top-14-un-record/1568828
See also 2024–25 Pro D2 season 2024–25 Nationale season
References