The 2000–01 French Rugby Union Championship was the top level of French club rugby in 2000–01. The competition was played by 21 teams. It was the last French season before the top level was reorganized into a 16-team league known as Top 16, now known as Top 14.
In the first phase, two pools (one of 10 teams, one of 11) were played. The first 4 of each pool were admitted to the "top 8", the tournament for the title.
The last two of the pool containing 10 teams, and the last three of the other, were relegated directly to the second division. The 8th team in each pool had a play-off to determine the sixth team relegated. Only one club was promoted from the second division in order to reduce the number of clubs for next session to 16.
Toulouse won their 15th title, beating Montferrand in the final
Preliminary phase
Pool 1
Pool 2
Quarters of final QUARTERS OF FINAL 25 MayCastres-Colomiers37–2625 MayToulouse-Perpignan20–1525 MayStade Français-Biarritz19–3525 MayMontferrand-Agen33–21
Semifinals SEMIFINALS 2 jun.Castres-Toulouse21–32Stadium, Toulouse2 jun.Biarritz-Montferrand9–16Stade Gerland, Lyon
Final
FB 15 Nicolas JeanjeanRW 14 Xavier Garbajosa OC 13 Cédric Desbrosse IC 12 Clément Poitrenaud LW 11 Michel MarfaingFH 10 Yann Delaigue SH 9 Frédéric Michalak N8 8 Fabien Pelous (c)OF 7 Christian Labit BF 6 Jean Bouilhou RL 5 David Gérard LL 4 Hugues Miorin TP 3 Franck Tournaire HK 2 Yannick Bru LP 1 Christian Califano Substitutions:PR 16 Cédric Soulette LK 17 Franck Belot FL 18 Didier Lacroix N8 19 Sylvain Dispagne SH 20 Jérôme Cazalbou FH 21 Alain Penaud FB 22 Stéphane Ougier Coach: Guy Novès FB 15 Jimmy Marlu RW 14 Aurélien Rougerie OC 13 Johnny Ngauamo IC 12 Nicolas Nadau LW 11 David BoryFH 10 Gérald Merceron SH 9 Alessandro Troncon N8 8 Selborne Boome OF 7 Olivier Magne BF 6 Alexandre Audebert RL 5 Éric Lecomte (c) LL 4 David Barrier TP 3 Alessio Galasso HK 2 Yves Pedrosa LP 1 Abraham Tolofua Substitutions:HK 16 Marco Caputo PR 17 Brendan Reidy FL 18 Jan Macháček FL 19 Christophe Dongieu SH 20 Kevin Dalzell FH 21 Éric Nicol FB 22 Sébastien Viars Coach: Christophe Mombet
Relegation play-off 25 MayPau-FC Grenoble33 – 21 o.t.
External links LNR.fr