2016–17 Top 14 season

The 2016–17 Top 14 competition was the 118th French domestic rugby union club competition operated by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR). Two new teams from the 2015–16 Pro D2 season were promoted to Top 14 this year, Bayonne and Lyon in place of the two relegated teams, Agen and Oyonnax. It marked the first time that both promoted teams had returned on their first opportunity after relegation (Bayonne and Lyon were both relegated during the 2014–15 Top 14 season).

Teams

ClubCity (department)StadiumCapacity Bayonne Bayonne (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) Stade Jean Dauger 16,934 Bordeaux Bègles Bordeaux (Gironde) Stade Chaban-Delmas (Bordeaux) 34,694 Brive Brive-la-Gaillarde (Corrèze) Stade Amédée-Domenech 13,979 Castres Castres (Tarn) Stade Pierre-Antoine 11,500 Clermont Clermont-Ferrand (Puy-de-Dôme) Stade Marcel-Michelin 19,022 Grenoble Grenoble (Isère) Stade des Alpes 20,068 La Rochelle La Rochelle (Charente-Maritime) Stade Marcel-Deflandre 15,000 Lyon Lyon (Rhône) Matmut Stadium de GerlandMatmut Stadium 25,00011,805 Montpellier Montpellier (Hérault) Altrad Stadium 15,697 Pau Pau (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) Stade du Hameau 18,000 Racing 92 Colombes (Hauts-de-Seine) Stade Olympique Yves-du-Manoir 14,000 Stade Français Paris, 16th arrondissement Stade Jean-Bouin 20,000 Toulon Toulon (Var) Stade Mayol 15,820 Toulouse Toulouse (Haute-Garonne) Stade Ernest-Wallon 19,500

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 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 2016–17 Top 14 TableClubPlayedWonDrawnLostPoints ForPoints AgainstPoints Try BonusLosing BonusPoints 1 La Rochelle (SF) 26 17 3 6 707 498 +209 6 5 85 2 Clermont (C) 26 15 3 8 800 562 +238 8 4 78 3 Montpellier (QF) 26 16 0 10 750 564 +186 7 5 76 4 Toulon (RU) 26 14 2 10 674 511 +163 3 6 69 5 Castres (QF) 26 13 1 12 667 509 +158 5 4 63 6 Racing (SF) 26 14 1 11 586 616 –30 3 1 62 7 Stade Français (CC) 26 12 1 13 643 638 +5 5 4 59 8 Brive 26 13 1 12 577 634 –57 0 4 58 9 Pau 26 12 1 13 604 701 –97 2 5 57 10 Lyon 26 11 2 13 573 632 –59 3 4 55 11 Bordeaux Bègles 26 11 1 14 569 581 –12 2 6 54 12 Toulouse 26 11 0 15 537 561 –24 3 6 53 13 Grenoble (R) 26 7 1 18 611 852 –241 2 6 38 14 Bayonne (R) 26 6 3 17 466 905 –439 0 0 30If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order: Competition points earned in head-to-head matches Points difference in head-to-head matches Try differential in head-to-head matches Points difference in all matches Try differential in all matches Points scored in all matches Tries scored in all matches Fewer matches forfeited Classification in the previous Top 14 season <small>Green background (rows 1 and 2) receive semi-final play-off places and receive berths in the 2016–17 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 (row 7) receive a berth for the 2017–18 European Rugby Champions–Challenge Cup play-offs.Plain background indicates teams that earn a place in the 2017–18 European Rugby Challenge Cup.Pink background (row 13) will be contest a play-off with the runners-up of the 2016–17 Rugby Pro D2 season for a place in the 2017–18 Top 14 season.<span style="background:#f88379">Red background</span> (row 14) will be relegated to Rugby Pro D2. Final table</small>

Relegation Normally, the teams that finish in 13th and 14th places in the table are relegated to Pro D2 at the end of the season. In certain circumstances, "financial reasons" may cause a higher placed team to be demoted instead. This last happened at the end of the 2009–10 season when 12th place Montauban were relegated thereby reprieving 13th place Bayonne.

Fixtures and results Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Round 7

Round 8

Round 9

Round 10

Round 11

Round 12

Round 13

Round 14

Round 15

Round 16

Postponed due to adverse weather conditions. Game rescheduled for 12 February 2017.

Postponed due to Racing playing a European Rugby Champions Cup fixture against Munster. The original fixture had been cancelled due to the death of Munster head coach Anthony Foley meaning the game was moved to a weekend. Racing's game against Bayonne would be rescheduled for 11 February 2017.

Round 17

Round 16 rescheduled matches

Game rescheduled from 8 January 2017.

Game rescheduled from 8 January 2017.

Round 18

Round 19

Round 20

Round 21

Postponed due to player strikes and turmoil surrounding the announced merger between franciliens teams Stade Français and Racing 92. Game would be rescheduled to 19 April 2017.

Postponed due to player strikes and turmoil surrounding the announced merger between franciliens teams Stade Français and Racing 92. Game would be rescheduled to 22 April 2017.

Round 22

Round 23

Round 24

Round 21 rescheduled matches

Game rescheduled from 17 March 2017.

Game rescheduled from 18 March 2017.

Round 25

Round 26

Playoffs

Semi-final Qualifiers

Semi-finals

Final

FB 15 Nick AbendanonRW 14 David Strettle OC 13 Damian Penaud IC 12 Rémi LameratLW 11 Alivereti RakaFH 10 Camille LopezSH 9 Morgan ParraN8 8 Fritz Lee OF 7 Judicaël CancorietBF 6 Damien Chouly (c)RL 5 Sitaleki Timani LL 4 Arthur Iturria TP 3 Davit Zirakashvili HK 2 Benjamin Kayser LP 1 Raphaël Chaume Substitutions:HK 16 John Ulugia PR 17 Étienne Falgoux LK 18 Paul Jedrasiak FL 19 Peceli Yato SH 20 Ludovic RadosavljevicFH 21 Patricio Fernández CE 22 Aurélien Rougerie PR 23 Aaron Jarvis Coach: Franck Azéma FB 15 James O'Connor RW 14 Josua Tuisova OC 13 Mathieu BastareaudIC 12 Ma'a NonuLW 11 Drew Mitchell FH 10 Anthony Belleau SH 9 Sébastien Tillous-BordeN8 8 Duane Vermeulen (c)OF 7 Liam GillBF 6 Juan Smith RL 5 Romain Taofifénua LL 4 Juandré KrugerTP 3 Marcel van der Merwe HK 2 Guilhem Guirado LP 1 Laurent Delboulbès Substitutions:HK 16 Anthony Etrillard PR 17 Xavier Chiocci LK 18 Mamuka Gorgodze FL 19 Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe FH 20 François Trinh-Duc CE 21 Matt Giteau SH 22 Éric EscandePR 23 Levan Chilachava Coach: Richard Cockerill

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.

Top points scorers

Rank Player ClubPoints 1 Gaëtan Germain Brive 324 2 Benjamin Urdapilleta Castres 253 3 Leigh Halfpenny Toulon 223 4 Jonathan Wisniewski Grenoble 220 5 Brock James La Rochelle 214 6 Tom Taylor Pau 208 7 Jules Plisson Stade Français 201 8 Morgan Parra Clermont 183 9 Dan Carter Racing 166 10 Frédéric Michalak Lyon 155

Top try scorers

Rank Player ClubTries 1 Waisea Nayacalevu Stade Français 14 2 Watisoni Votu Pau 13 3 Juan Imhoff Racing 11 David Strettle Clermont 5 Gabriel Lacroix La Rochelle 106 Carl Fearns Lyon8 Benjamin Lapeyre Brive Leone Nakarawa Racing Noa Nakaitaci Clermont Joe Tomane Montpellier Nemani Nadolo Montpellier

Attendances

Attendances do not include the semi-finals or final as these are at neutral venues.

ClubHomeGamesTotalAverageHighestLowest% Capacity Bayonne 13 166,415 12,801 16,933 10,200 76% Bordeaux Bègles 13 310,438 23,880 28,212 18,564 68% Brive 13 137,578 10,583 13,979 8,979 76% Castres 13 114,008 8,770 10,228 7,903 76% Clermont 13 221,080 17,006 18,778 15,000 89% Grenoble 13 167,164 12,859 15,200 9,000 64% La Rochelle 13 193,586 14,891 15,000 13,860 99% Lyon 13 159,491 12,269 21,465 8,385 74% Montpellier 14 157,738 11,267 14,997 9,000 72% Pau 13 144,903 11,146 12,064 10,018 62% Racing 92 13 136,349 10,488 31,432 6,101 62% Stade Francais 13 141,794 10,907 19,883 5,000 55% Toulon 14 259,107 18,508 51,672 11,207 86% Toulouse 13 198,310 15,255 24,989 10,034 70%

See also 2016–17 Rugby Pro D2 season

Notes

References