The 2005–06 Top 14 competition was the 107th French domestic rugby union club competition operated by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR) and the 1st using the name Top 14. Previously the league was known as Top 16 but the restructuring of the league at the end of the 2004–05 season meant that it shrank from 16 to 14 clubs. Toulon were the only promoted team having won the 2004–05 Pro D2.
During the season attendance records in the league were broken with 79,502 spectators attending the Round 9 clash between Stade Français and Toulouse at the Stade de France, shattering the attendance record for any regular league season game in France (not just rugby union). However, that record was short-lived when 79,604 spectators attended the Round 17 match between Stade Français and Biarritz Olympique.
The regular season finished in late May 2006, with Biarritz finishing at the top of the ladder. The semi-finals and final were contested in June, with Biarritz defeating Toulouse to claim back-to-back titles, and their fifth overall. Two teams were relegated with newly promoted Toulon, who had easily the poorest record in top 14 with just 3 wins from 26 games, being the first to go down, followed by Pau who were much more competitive but not quite good enough to stay up, finishing 3 points from safety. Both clubs would drop to the 2006–07 Pro D2.
Teams
ClubCity (department)StadiumCapacityPrevious season Agen Agen (Lot-et-Garonne) Stade Armandie 13,000 7th Bayonne Bayonne (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) Stade Jean Dauger 16,934 12th Biarritz Biarritz (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) Parc des Sports Aguiléra 15,000 Champions Bourgoin Bourgoin-Jallieu (Isère) Stade Pierre Rajon 9,441 Semi-finals (3rd in league) Brive Brive-la-Gaillarde (Corrèze) Stade Amédée-Domenech 15,000 9th Castres Castres (Tarn) Stade Pierre-Fabre 11,500 6th Clermont Clermont-Ferrand (Puy-de-Dôme) Stade Marcel-Michelin 16,334 8th Montpellier Montpellier (Hérault) Stade Sabathé 8,000 11th Narbonne Narbonne (Aude) Parc des Sports Et de l'Amitié 12,000 10th Pau Pau (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) Stade du Hameau 14,000 13th Perpignan Perpignan (Pyrénées-Orientales) Stade Aimé Giral 16,593 5th Stade Français Paris, 16th arrondissement Stade Jean-Bouin 12,000 Runners up (2nd in league) Toulon Toulon (Var) Stade Mayol 13,700 Promoted from Pro D2 (champions) Toulouse Toulouse (Haute-Garonne) Stade Ernest-Wallon 19,500 Semi-finals (4th in league)
Number of teams by regions Teams Region or country Team(s)5Agen, Bayonne, Biarritz, Brive and PauCastres, Montpellier, Narbonne, Perpignan and Toulouse2Bourgoin and Clermont1Stade FrançaisToulon
Table
Fixtures & 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
Round 17
Round 18
Round 19
Round 20
Round 21
Round 22
Round 23
Round 24
Round 25
Round 26
Knock-out stages
Semi-finals
Final
FB 15 Nicolas Brusque RW 14 Jean-Baptiste GobeletOC 13 Philippe BidabéIC 12 Damien Traille LW 11 Sireli BoboFH 10 Julien PeyrelongueSH 9 Dimitri Yachvili N8 8 Imanol HarinordoquyOF 7 Thierry DusautoirBF 6 Serge Betsen RL 5 Olivier Olibeau LL 4 Jérôme ThionTP 3 Benoît Lecouls HK 2 Benoît August (c) LP 1 Petru Bălan Replacements:HK 16 Benjamin Noirot PR 17 Census Johnston LK 18 David Couzinet N8 19 Thomas Lièvremont SH 20 Julien Dupuy FH 21 Benjamin Dambielle CE 22 Federico Martín Aramburú Coach: Patrice Lagisquet
FB 15 Clément PoitrenaudRW 14 Vincent Clerc OC 13 Yannick JauzionIC 12 Florian FritzLW 11 Cédric HeymansFH 10 Frédéric Michalak SH 9 Jean-Baptiste ÉlissaldeN8 8 Finau Maka OF 7 Jean BouilhouBF 6 Yannick Nyanga RL 5 Trevor BrennanLL 4 Fabien Pelous TP 3 Omar Hasan HK 2 Yannick Bru (c) LP 1 Jean-Baptiste Poux Replacements:HK 16 Virgile Lacombe PR 17 Daan Human LK 18 Romain Millo-Chluski FL 19 Grégory Lamboley N8 20 Isitolo Maka FH 21 Jean-Frédéric Dubois FB 22 Xavier Garbajosa Coach: Guy Novès
Leading scorers Note that points scorers includes tries as well as conversions, penalties and drop goals.
Top points scorers
Rank Player Club Points 1 Cédric Rosalen Narbonne 328 2 Romain Teulet Castres 300 3 Richard Dourthe Bayonne 295 4 Lionel Beauxis Pau 243 5 Jean-Baptiste Élissalde Toulouse 241 6 Maxime Petitjean Brive 213 7 François Gelez Agen 196 8 Stephen Jones Clermont 193 9 David Aucagne Montpellier 190 10 Dimitri Yachvili Biarritz 192
Top try scorers Rank Player Club Tries 1 Rupeni Caucaunibuca Agen 17 2 Sireli Bobo Biarritz 14 3 Vincent Clerc Toulouse 11 Anthony Forest Bourgoin 11 Cédric Heymans Toulouse 11 4 Laurent Arbo Montpellier 10 5 Philippe Bidabé Biarritz 9 Florian Fritz Toulouse 9 Laloa Milford Castres 9 Julien Saubade Stade Français 9
Attendances
Attendances do not include the semi-finals or final as these are at neutral venues.
ClubHomeGamesTotalAverageHighestLowest% Capacity Agen 13 90,087 6,930 9,362 4,163 53% Bayonne 13 118,595 9,123 12,055 7,114 54% Biarritz 13 81,805 6,293 12,707 4,482 42% Bourgoin 13 118,412 9,109 24,790 5,175 68% Brive 13 112,902 8,685 11,915 6,100 58% Castres 13 80,394 6,184 9,510 4,801 54% Clermont 13 143,688 11,053 13,850 9,000 68% Montpellier 13 73,807 5,677 6,585 4,904 71% Narbonne 13 95,297 7,331 10,773 5,628 61% Pau 13 86,913 6,686 11,517 5,101 48% Perpignan 13 148,913 11,455 12,662 5,785 69% Stade Français 13 249,041 19,157 79,604 6,448 73% Toulon 13 158,958 12,228 13,408 10,624 89% Toulouse 13 227,107 17,470 35,439 12,156 83%
See also 2005–06 Heineken Cup 2005–06 Rugby Pro D2 season
Notes
References
External links Ligue Nationale de Rugby – Official website Top 14 on Planetrugby.com