The 2020–21 Top 14 competition is the 122nd
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
The National Rugby League (, LNR) manages the professional rugby union clubs in France, by delegation of the Minister of Sports and the French Rugby Federation. It organises and regulates the two French rugby club divisions, Top 14 and Pro D2, p ...
(LNR). After play was suspended following the 17th matchday of the 2019–20 season due to the
COVID-19 pandemic in France
The COVID-19 pandemic in France has resulted in confirmed cases of COVID-19 and deaths.
The virus was confirmed to have reached France on 24 January 2020, when the first COVID-19 case in both Europe and France was identified in Bordeaux. T ...
, 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
Number of teams by region
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
Stade de France (, ) is the national stadium of France, located just north of Paris in the commune of Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis, Saint-Denis. Its seating capacity of 80,698 makes it the List of football stadiums in France, largest stadium i ...
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
Relegation
Starting from the 2017–18 season forward, only the 14th placed team will be automatically relegated to
Pro D2
The Pro D2 is the second tier of rugby union club competition division in France. It is operated by Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR) which also runs the division directly above, the first division Top 14. Rugby Pro D2 was introduced in 2000. It ...
. The 13th placed team will face the runner-up of the
Pro D2
The Pro D2 is the second tier of rugby union club competition division in France. It is operated by Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR) which also runs the division directly above, the first division Top 14. Rugby Pro D2 was introduced in 2000. It ...
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
The Pro D2 is the second tier of rugby union club competition division in France. It is operated by Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR) which also runs the division directly above, the first division Top 14. Rugby Pro D2 was introduced in 2000. It ...
, 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
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Semi-finals
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Final
Leading scorers
Note: Flags to the left of player names indicate national team as has been defined under
World Rugby
World Rugby is the governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international competit ...
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
Top try scorers
See also
*
2020–21 Rugby Pro D2 season
Notes
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:2020-21 Top 14 season
Top 14 seasons