The 2008–09
Top 14
The Top 14 () is a professional rugby union club competition that is played in France. Created in 1892, the Top 14 is at the top of the national league system operated by the National Rugby League (France), France National Rugby League, also ...
Competition was a French domestic
rugby union
Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...
club competition operated by the
Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR). It ran from late August 2008 through the final at
Stade de France on June 6, 2009, in which
Perpignan
Perpignan (, , ; ; ) is the prefectures in France, prefecture of the Pyrénées-Orientales departments of France, department in Southern France, in the heart of the plain of Roussillon, at the foot of the Pyrenees a few kilometres from the Me ...
lifted the
Bouclier de Brennus with a 22–13 win over
Clermont.
This year's edition of the Top 14 welcomed
Toulon
Toulon (, , ; , , ) is a city in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France. Located on the French Riviera and the historical Provence, it is the prefecture of the Var (department), Var department.
The Commune of Toulon h ...
, winners of the
2008
2008 was designated as:
*International Year of Languages
*International Year of Planet Earth
*International Year of the Potato
*International Year of Sanitation
The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...
title in the second-level
Pro D2, and
Mont-de-Marsan, victors in the 2008 promotion playoffs between the second- through fifth-place teams in Pro D2. They took the place of
Auch and
Albi
Albi (; ) is a commune in France, commune in southern France. It is the prefecture of the Tarn (department), Tarn Departments of France, department, on the river Tarn (river), Tarn, 85 km northeast of Toulouse. Its inhabitants are called ...
, relegated at the end of the
2007–08 Top 14. Auch, which had been
promoted to the Top 14 for 2007–08, finished bottom of the table and went down. The other newly promoted team in 2007–08,
Dax, finished second-from-bottom, but were reprieved when French sporting authorities forcibly relegated 12th-place Albi to Pro D2 due to financial issues.
Teams
Competition format
Each club plays every other club twice. The second half of the season is conducted in the same order as the first, with the club at home in the first half of the season away in the second. As in previous seasons, the top four clubs at the end of the home-and-away season advanced to a single-elimination playoff. The semifinals were held at neutral sites on May 29 and 30, with the final at
Stade de France on June 6.
Going into the season, the top six clubs were guaranteed of berths in the
2009–10 Heineken Cup, with the possibility of a seventh if a French club had advanced further in the
2008–09 Heineken Cup than any team from
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
or
Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
. However, the seventh French berth did not materialize this season, as the only Top 14 club to make the
knockout stage, Toulouse, were eliminated in the quarterfinals, while England's
Leicester Tigers reached
the final (where they lost to
Irish side
Leinster
Leinster ( ; or ) is one of the four provinces of Ireland, in the southeast of Ireland.
The modern province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige, which existed during Gaelic Ireland. Following the 12th-century ...
). The sixth-place team would have been relegated to the
2009–10 European Challenge Cup if 11th-place Bourgoin had won the
2008–09 Challenge Cup final on 22 May; however, Bourgoin were defeated by English side
Northampton Saints.
The bottom two teams are provisionally relegated to Pro D2, with the possibility of one or both of the bottom teams to be reprieved if a team above them fails a postseason financial audit (mandatory for all clubs in the league).
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 makes it impossible for either team to earn a bonus point in a drawn match. LNR chose to continue with this system for 2008-09.
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 7 points (or less).
Season synopsis
While the four playoff teams—Perpignan,
Toulouse
Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...
, Clermont, and
Stade Français—separated themselves from the pack fairly early in the season, it was Toulouse who were the form team in the first half of the season; they had a Top 14-record streak of 11 wins from Round 5 through Round 15. However, Perpignan surged in the second half of the season, finishing level with Toulouse on the season log; the Catalans claimed the top seed on the first tiebreaker of head-to-head competition points. Biarritz used a late-season surge to claim fifth place, while the final Heineken Cup berth was ultimately decided in the final round, when Brive's draw with Bourgoin combined with
Bayonne's win over Stade Français without a bonus point left Brive and Bayonne level on the log; Brive won on the second tiebreaker of head-to-head scoring.
At the other end of the ladder, Mont-de-Marsan were rarely competitive and finished bottom. The second relegation place finally fell on Dax, after
Bourgoin,
Castres
Castres (; ''Castras'' in the Languedocian dialect, Languedocian dialect of Occitan language, Occitan) is the sole Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Tarn (department), Tarn Departments of France, department in the Occitania (adminis ...
, and the highly ambitious Toulon spent time in relegation trouble.
For much of the season, Bourgoin faced another type of relegation trouble—financial. At the end of each season, all teams in both divisions of LNR must pass a financial audit conducted by DNACG (''Direction nationale d'aide et de contrôle de gestion''), LNR's financial arm, to be able to keep their professional licenses. The club were able to satisfy DNACG that they had sufficient financial guarantees to participate in Top 14 and were thus allowed to stay in the top flight.
* Second division:
2008–09 Rugby Pro D2 season
Table
Fixtures & Results
Round 1
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Round 2
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Round 3
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Round 4
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Round 5
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Round 6
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Round 7
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Round 8
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Round 9
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Round 10
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Round 11
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Round 12
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Round 13
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Round 14
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Round 15
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Round 16
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Round 17
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Round 18
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Round 19
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Round 20
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Round 21
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Round 22
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Round 23
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Round 24
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Round 25
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Round 26
Knock-out stages
Semi-finals
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Final
Leading scorers
* Note that points scorers includes tries as well as conversions, penalties and drop goals.
Top points scorers
Top try scorers
Attendances
* Attendances do not include the semi-finals or final as these are at neutral venues.
See also
*
2008–09 Heineken Cup
*
2008–09 Rugby Pro D2 season
Notes
References
*
Ligue Nationale de Rugby. ''lnr.fr''. Accessed July 27, 2008.
External links
*
Ligue Nationale de Rugby- Official website
Top 14on Planetrugby.com
on itsrugby.co.uk
{{DEFAULTSORT:2008-09 Top 14 season
Top 14 seasons
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...