2021–22 Top 14 season
| 2021–22 Top 14 | |
|---|---|
| Countries |  France |
| Official website | |
| www | |
The 2021–22 Top 14 competition is the 123rd French domestic rugby union club competition operated by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR).
Teams[edit]
Number of teams by regions[edit]
| Teams | Region or country | Team(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 5 |  Nouvelle-Aquitaine |
Biarritz, Bordeaux Bègles, Brive, La Rochelle, Pau |
| 4 |  Occitanie |
Castres, Montpellier, Perpignan, Toulouse |
| 2 |  Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes |
Clermont, Lyon |
 Île-de-France |
Racing, Stade Français | |
| 1 |  Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur |
Toulon |
Competition format[edit]
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,[1] 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.[2]
France's bonus point system operates as follows:[2]
- 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[edit]
| |||||||||||||||||
| Club | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Points for | Points against | Points diff. | Tries for | Tries against | Try bonus | Losing bonus | Points | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Toulouse | 8 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 210 | 102 | +108 | 24 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 31 | ||||
| 2 | Bordeaux Bègles | 8 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 227 | 152 | +73 | 23 | 10 | 4 | 0 | 28 | ||||
| 3 | Lyon | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 210 | 134 | +76 | 24 | 9 | 2 | 4 | 22 | ||||
| 4 | La Rochelle | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 194 | 126 | +68 | 20 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 20 | ||||
| 5 | Racing | 8 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 184 | 171 | +13 | 20 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 20 | ||||
| 6 | Castres | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 158 | 205 | –47 | 17 | 18 | 1 | 0 | 19 | ||||
| 7 | Montpellier | 8 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 196 | 162 | +34 | 18 | 16 | 0 | 4 | 18 | ||||
| 8 | Clermont | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 191 | 200 | –9 | 15 | 16 | 1 | 1 | 18 | ||||
| 9 | Brive | 8 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 138 | 166 | –28 | 12 | 16 | 2 | 3 | 16 | ||||
| 10 | Stade Français | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 142 | 202 | –60 | 13 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 16 | ||||
| 11 | Pau | 8 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 161 | 216 | –55 | 12 | 25 | 0 | 2 | 14 | ||||
| 12 | Biarritz | 8 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 164 | 220 | –66 | 17 | 30 | 1 | 0 | 13 | ||||
| 13 | Toulon | 8 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 136 | 184 | –48 | 10 | 18 | 1 | 1 | 12 | ||||
| 14 | Perpignan | 8 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 126 | 220 | –94 | 9 | 24 | 0 | 2 | 10 | ||||
|
If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:
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| Green background (rows 1 and 2) receive semi-final play-off places and receive berths in the 2022–23 European Rugby Champions Cup. Blue background (rows 3 to 6) receive quarter-final play-off places, and receive berths in the Champions Cup. Yellow background (rows 7 and 8) indicates teams outside the play-offs that also earn a place in the Champions Cup. Plain background indicates teams that earn a place in the 2022–23 European Rugby Challenge Cup. Pink background (row 13) will qualify to the relegation play-offs. Red background (row 14) will automatically be relegated to 2022–23 Rugby Pro D2. Final table — source: [1] Updated: 18 October 2021 | |||||||||||||||||
Relegation[edit]
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.[3]
Fixtures & results[edit]
Round 1[edit]
Round 2[edit]
Round 3[edit]
Round 4[edit]
Round 5[edit]
Round 6[edit]
Round 7[edit]
Round 8[edit]
Round 9[edit]
Round 10[edit]
See also[edit]
Notes[edit]
- ^ In recent years, Bordeaux Bègles has taken occasional home matches to Matmut Atlantique.
- ^ In recent years, Toulon has taken occasional home matches to Stade Vélodrome in Marseille and Allianz Riviera in Nice.
- ^ Toulouse often takes high-demand home matches to the city's largest sporting venue, Stadium de Toulouse.
References[edit]
- ^ "French try out new bonus point system". Planet-rugby.com. 27 June 2007. Archived from the original on 29 September 2007. Retrieved 13 August 2007.
- ^ a b "Article 330, Section 3.2. Points "terrain"" (PDF). Règlements de la Ligue Nationale de Rugby 2008/2009, Chapitre 2 : Règlement sportif du Championnat de France Professionnel (in French). LNR. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 February 2012. Retrieved 27 August 2008.
- ^ Mortimer, Gavin (18 August 2016). "French rugby enjoys a popularity boom as it looks to the future". Rugby World. Retrieved 10 May 2017.