The 2011–12

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 French National Rugby League, also known by its French initialism o ...

competition was a French domestic

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...

club competition operated by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR). Home-and-away play began on August 26, 2011. Two new teams from the

2010–11 Rugby Pro D2 season 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

were promoted to Top 14 this year,

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of ...

and Bordeaux Bègles in place of the two relegated teams,

La Rochelle La Rochelle (, , ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''La Rochéle''; oc, La Rochèla ) is a city on the west coast of France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department. Wit ...

and

Bourgoin Bourgoin-Jallieu (; frp, Brégon) is a commune in the Isère department in the region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes in France. The city had 28,834 inhabitants in 2019 and lies 35 kilometres east-southeast of Lyon. It was formed by the merger of th ...

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger Regions of France, region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania. The city is on t ...

claimed the Bouclier de Brennus as champions for the 19th time, defeating

Toulon Toulon (, , ; oc, label=Provençal, Tolon , , ) is a city on the French Riviera and a large port on the Mediterranean coast, with a major naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, and the Provence province, Toulon is the ...

18–12 in the final on June 9, 2012 at

Stade de France The Stade de France (, ) is the national stadium of France, located just north of Paris in the commune of Saint-Denis. Its seating capacity of 80,698 makes it the sixth-largest stadium in Europe. The stadium is used by the France national foot ...

in Saint-Denis. At the other end of the table,

Brive Brive-la-Gaillarde (; Limousin dialect of oc, Briva la Galharda) is a commune of France. It is a sub-prefecture and the largest city of the Corrèze department. It has around 46,000 inhabitants, while the population of the agglomeration was 75 ...

and

were relegated.

Competition format

Each club played every other club twice. The second half of the season was conducted in the same order as the first, with the club at home in the first half of the season away in the second. This season maintained the format introduced the previous season for the knockout stage: the top two teams qualified directly to the semifinals, while teams ranked from third to sixth qualified for a quarterfinal held at the home ground of the higher-ranked team.

The teams

During the regular season, three teams changed coaches a total of four times: * Toulon was forced to find a replacement for

Philippe Saint-André Philippe Georges Saint-André (; born 19 April 1967) is a former French rugby union footballer and currently the manager of Top 14 side Montpellier. He earned 69 test caps for France between 1990 and 1997. His preferred position was wing but h ...

once he was named to become the new head coach of the

France national team France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area e ...

, effective 1 December.

Bernard Laporte Bernard Laporte (born 1 July 1964) is a rugby player, coach and former French Secretary of State for Sport. From 1999 to 2007, Laporte was the head coach of the France national team. In 2011, he became the head coach at Toulon, after Philippe Sa ...

, a former France head coach (1999–2007), was named as Toulon's new head coach, and took over in September after Saint-André was granted an early release by Toulon. * Perpignan sacked Jacques Delmas on 21 November, only four months after he had taken over from Jacques Brunel, who left to become the new head coach of

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. The Catalans had lost seven of their 12 matches in all competitions under Delmas. Assistants

Bernard Goutta Bernard Goutta (born 28 September 1972 in Perpignan), is a French former professional rugby league and rugby union footballer and current rugby union coach. He is now co-head coach of his former union club, USA Perpignan, following the sacking ...

and

Christophe Manas Christophe may refer to: People * Christophe (given name), list of people with this name * Christophe (singer) (1945–2020), French singer * Cristophe (hairstylist) (born 1958), Belgian hairstylist * Georges Colomb (1856–1945), French comic str ...

were named as replacements. * Bayonne sacked their entire coaching staff—director of rugby Christian Gajan, forwards coach

Thomas Lièvremont Thomas Lièvremont (born 6 November 1973) is a French rugby union footballer. Thomas Lièvremont was born in Perpignan. He currently coaches Dax in the second division of French rugby, Pro D2, but has agreed to join Top 14 side Bayonne as forwar ...

and backs coach

Frédéric Tauzin Frédéric and Frédérick are the French versions of the common male given name Frederick. They may refer to: In artistry: * Frédéric Back, Canadian award-winning animator * Frédéric Bartholdi, French sculptor * Frédéric Bazille, Impress ...

—on 6 December. Gajan's position was filled by

Jean-Pierre Élissalde Jean-Pierre Élissalde (born 31 December 1953) is a rugby union coach and former player. Playing career Élissalde began his career with his local team La Rochelle. He went on to play for Bayonne for two years between 1978 and 1980 before returnin ...

, former Japan head coach and also father of former France international and current Toulouse backs coach Jean-Baptiste Élissalde. After six weeks, in which Bayonne remained near the bottom of the table with two losses and one draw in league play, Élissalde was sacked on 16 January, with former Stade Français head coach

Didier Faugeron __NOTOC__ Didier is a French masculine given name and surname common throughout the Romance languages. It comes from the Ancient Roman names Didius and Desiderius. During the 5th century AD, with the Christianisation of ancient pagan names, it ha ...

named as his replacement.

Table

: Due to the interplay between LNR's schedule for Heineken Cup qualification and the rules of European Rugby Cup (ERC), which operates both European cup competitions, it is theoretically possible that a team finishing as high as fourth in the league table may not qualify for the Heineken Cup. Under ERC rules, the winners of the Heineken Cup and European Challenge Cup each earn a place in the following season's Heineken Cup. If a team from France wins one of these competitions, the Top 14 will receive a seventh Heineken Cup place. However, if French teams win both cups, the Top 14 is capped at seven Heineken Cup places. Biarritz' victory in the Challenge Cup gave France an extra place for the 2012–13 Heineken Cup. The LNR presents teams for the Heineken Cup in the following order, skipping any steps occupied by clubs outside the Top 14 or filled in a prior step. The clubs involved in each step for this season are indicated in the numbered list. # Champion – Toulouse # Runner-up – Toulon # Heineken Cup holder – Skipped (won by

Leinster Leinster ( ; ga, Laighin or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, situated in the southeast and east of Ireland. The province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige. Following the 12th-century Norman invasion of Ir ...

of Pro12) # Semifinalist that finished higher in the league table – Clermont # Semifinalist that finished lower in the league table – Castres # Challenge Cup holder – Biarritz # Additional berths based on league position – Montpellier, Racing Métro Under LNR rules, only Top 14 clubs are eligible for European competition. This means that in the (unlikely) event that the winner of one of the two European Cups is relegated from the Top 14 in the same season, its European place will go to a current Top 14 team, based on league position in that season. Under another ERC rule, if teams from England, which is also capped at seven Heineken Cup places, win both European cups, the extra place will go to the highest-ranked non-English team in the European Rugby Club Rankings that is not already qualified for the Heineken Cup. If that club is in the Top 14, it will receive a Heineken Cup place regardless of its league position, as long as it avoids relegation. For a team in the top six to be left out of the Heineken Cup, French teams must win both European Cups, ''and'' those teams must have finished outside the top six in the league while also avoiding relegation.

Playoffs

All times are in

Central European Summer Time Central European Summer Time (CEST), sometimes referred to as Central European Daylight Time (CEDT), is the standard clock time observed during the period of summer daylight-saving in those European countries which observe Central European Time ...

(UTC+2).

Quarter-finals

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Semi-finals

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Final

Statistics

Top points scorers

Updated 19 May 2012 File:ST vs RCT 2012 12 03041.JPG, Jonny Wilkinson
(RC Toulon) File:ST vs CO 2012-03-10 - Romain Teulet.jpg, Romain Teulet
(Castres Olympique) File:Bustos Moyano.jpg, Martín Bustos Moyano
(Montpellier HR) File:ST vs SF - Julien Dupuy-1 cropped.jpg, Julien Dupuy
(Stade Français) File:Boyet Penality.JPG, Benjamin Boyet
(Aviron Bayonnais)

Top try scorers

Updated 6 May 2012 File:ST vs LOU - 49 - Crop.jpg, File:ST vs Harlequins - Matanavu - Crop.jpg, File:Sireli bobo 2.jpg, File:Henry Chavancy Racing Metro training 2012-03-16.jpg, File:ST vs UBB - Blair Connor.jpg,

References

External links

*
Ligue Nationale de Rugby
– Official website
Top 14
on Planetrugby.com {{DEFAULTSORT:2011-12 Top 14 season Top 14 seasons

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...