The 2020–21 Top 14 competition is the 122nd French domestic rugby union club competition operated by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR). After play was suspended following the 17th matchday of the 2019–20 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic in France, the season was officially cancelled without any winner or promotion/relegation on 6 May 2020. Of the 2020–21 season, some last round matches were rescheduled for 16/17 January 2021, with the playoffs and final taking place in June 2021.
Teams
ClubCity (department)StadiumCapacityPrevious season Agen Agen (Lot-et-Garonne) Stade Armandie 13,863 13th Bayonne Bayonne (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) Stade Jean Dauger 16,934 11th Bordeaux Bègles Bordeaux (Gironde) Stade Chaban-Delmas 33,500 1st Brive Brive-la-Gaillarde (Corrèze) Stade Amédée-Domenech 13,979 10th Castres Castres (Tarn) Stade Pierre-Fabre 12,500 9th Clermont Clermont-Ferrand (Puy-de-Dôme) Stade Marcel-Michelin 19,022 6th La Rochelle La Rochelle (Charente-Maritime) Stade Marcel-Deflandre 16,000 5th Lyon Lyon (Métropole de Lyon) Matmut Stadium de Gerland 25,000 2nd Montpellier Montpellier (Hérault) Altrad Stadium 15,697 8th Pau Pau (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) Stade du Hameau 18,324 12th Racing Nanterre (Hauts-de-Seine) Paris La Défense Arena 30,681 3rd Stade Français Paris, 16th arrondissement Stade Jean-Bouin 20,000 14th Toulon Toulon (Var) Stade Mayol 18,200 4th Toulouse Toulouse (Haute-Garonne) Stade Ernest-Wallon 18,754 7th Number of teams by region Teams Region or country Team(s)6Agen, Bayonne, Bordeaux Bègles, Brive, La Rochelle, Pau3Castres, Montpellier, Toulouse2Clermont, LyonRacing, Stade Français1Toulon
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 2020–21 Top 14 TableClubPlayedWonDrawnLostPoints ForPoints AgainstPoints Try BonusLosing BonusPoints 1 Toulouse (CH) 26 17 1 8 767 557 +210 8 3 81 2 La Rochelle (RU) 26 17 0 9 726 452 +274 6 4 78 3 Racing (SF) 26 17 0 9 757 577 +180 6 4 78 4 Bordeaux Bègles (SF) 26 15 1 10 740 546 +194 7 3 72 5 Clermont (QF) 26 15 1 10 830 619 +211 6 3 71 6 Stade Français (QF) 26 15 0 11 701 622 +79 6 4 70 7 Castres 26 15 1 10 625 676 –51 3 4 69 8 Toulon 26 14 0 12 641 605 +36 7 3 66 9 Lyon 26 14 1 11 678 568 +110 3 4 65 10 Montpellier 26 10 0 16 579 615 –36 6 8 54 11 Brive 26 11 0 15 585 711 –126 2 5 51 12 Pau 26 9 1 16 688 752 –64 2 6 46 13 Bayonne (R) 26 10 0 16 565 796 –231 1 5 46 14 Agen (R) 26 0 0 26 315 1101 –786 0 2 2If 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 Green background (rows 1 and 2) receive semi-final play-off places and receive berths in the 2021–22 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 and Montpellier) receive berths in the Champions Cup. Montpellier received a berth for winning the 2020–21 European Rugby Challenge Cup.Plain background indicates teams that earn a place in the 2021–22 European Rugby Challenge Cup.Pink background (row 13) will be contest a play-off with the runners-up of the 2020–21 Rugby Pro D2 season for a place in the 2021–22 Top 14 season.Red background (row 14) will be relegated to Rugby Pro D2. Final table
Relegation Starting from the 2017–18 season forward, only the 14th placed team will be automatically relegated to Pro D2. The 13th placed team will face the runner-up of the Pro D2 play-off, with the winner of that play-off taking up the final place in Top 14 for the following season.
Fixtures and results Round 1
Round 2
Round 3
Round 4
Round 5
Round 6
Round 7
Round 8
Round 9
Round 1 rescheduled match
Round 7 rescheduled match
Round 3 rescheduled match
Round 10
Round 11
Round 4 rescheduled match
Round 12
Round 13
Round 7 rescheduled match
Round 14
Round 4 rescheduled match
Round 13 rescheduled match
Round 3 rescheduled match
Round 5 rescheduled match
Round 19
Round 9 rescheduled match
Round 8 rescheduled match
Round 14 rescheduled matches
Round 12 rescheduled match
Relegation playoff The team finishing in 13th place faces the runner-up of the Pro D2, with the winner of this match playing in the 2021–22 Top 14 and the loser in the 2021–22 Pro D2.
Biarritz won and were promoted to Top 14, while Bayonne were relegated to Pro D2.
Playoffs
Semi-final Qualifiers
Semi-finals
Final
FB 15 Cheslin KolbeRW 14 Juan Cruz MallíaOC 13 Santiago ChocobaresIC 12 Pita AhkiLW 11 Matthis Lebel FH 10 Thomas RamosSH 9 Antoine Dupont N8 8 Selevasio Tolofua OF 7 François CrosBF 6 Rynhardt ElstadtRL 5 Richie Arnold LL 4 Rory Arnold TP 3 Charlie Faumuina HK 2 Julien Marchand (c) LP 1 Cyril Baille Substitutions:HK 16 Peato Mauvaka PR 17 Rodrigue Neti LK 18 Joe Tekori LK 19 Thibaud Flament BR 20 Jerome Kaino SH 21 Alexi Balès FB 22 Maxime Médard PR 23 Dorian Aldegheri Coach: Ugo Mola FB 15 Brice Dulin RW 14 Dillyn LeydsOC 13 Raymond RhuleIC 12 Geoffrey DoumayrouLW 11 Arthur RetièreFH 10 Ihaia West SH 9 Tawera Kerr-Barlow N8 8 Grégory Alldritt OF 7 Kevin GourdonBF 6 Wiaan LiebenbergRL 5 Will SkeltonLL 4 Romain Sazy (c) TP 3 Uini Atonio HK 2 Facundo Bosch LP 1 Reda Wardi Substitutions:HK 16 Samuel Lagrange PR 17 Dany Priso LK 18 Thomas Lavault BR 19 Victor Vito SH 20 Jules Le Bail FH 21 Jules Plisson CE 22 Jules Favre PR 23 Arthur Joly Coach: Jono Gibbes Ronan O'Gara
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 ClubGamesPoints 1 Antoine Hastoy Pau 19 262 2 Camille Lopez Clermont 17 247 3 Benjamin Urdapilleta Castres 18 222 4 Joris Segonds Stade Français 20 213 5 Gaëtan Germain Bayonne 15 197 6 Maxime Machenaud Racing 17 157 7 Matthieu Jalibert Bordeaux Bègles 10 147 8 Enzo Hervé Brive 11 145 9 Ihaia West La Rochelle 14 136 10 Louis Carbonel Toulon 9 132
Top try scorers
Rank Player ClubGamesTries 1 Matthis Lebel Toulouse 15 11 2 Noa Nakaitaci Lyon 14 8 3 Pierre Bourgarit La Rochelle 12 8 4 Filipo Nakosi Castres 16 7 5 Lester Etien Stade Français 17 7 6 Aymeric Luc Bayonne 15 7 7 Sekou Macalou Stade Français 8 7 8 Fritz Lee Clermont 16 6 9 Arthur Retière La Rochelle 12 6 10 Josua Tuisova Lyon 12 6 11 Alivereti Raka Clermont 9 6 12 Grégory Alldritt La Rochelle 8 6
See also 2020–21 Rugby Pro D2 season
Notes
References