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2008–09 Top 14 season

The 2008–09 Top 14 Competition was a French domestic rugby union 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 lifted the Bouclier de Brennus with a 22–13 win over Clermont.

This year's edition of the Top 14 welcomed Toulon, winners of the 2008 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, 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 or Italy. 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). 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,[2] 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.[3]

France's bonus point system operates as follows:[3]

Season synopsis

While the four playoff teams—Perpignan, Toulouse, 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, 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.[4]

Table

Source: [citation needed]
(C) Champion; (R) Relegated
Notes:
  1. ^ a b Perpignan finished first on the ladder, ahead of Toulouse, based on a 5–4 edge in head-to-head competition points; Toulouse scored a regular win against Perpignan in Round 6, while Perpignan picked up a bonus-point win in the return match in Round 19.
  2. ^ a b Brive edged out Bayonne for sixth place, and ultimately the final Heineken Cup berth. In Round 8, Bayonne defeated Brive 14–9 at home. In the return match in Round 21, Brive won 13–6 at home. Since both losing teams picked up bonus points, the tiebreaker went to head-to-head point differential, in which Brive had a two-point edge.

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

Leading scorers

Attendances

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Although the capacity of Stade Jean Dauger is listed at 16,934, the club achieved an attendance of 18,840 at the ground in their game against Toulouse on 13 May 2009. Whether this attendance was achieved due to a temporary capacity increase is unclear but no sources list Stade Jean Dauger as having a regular capacity of this size.
  2. ^ Despite finishing 13th Dax were saved from relegation due to 12th placed Albi going down instead due to financial irregularities.[1]
  3. ^ Capacity of Stade Sapiac up to 12,600 from 11,500 the previous season.
  4. ^ Stade Français would also play three home games at the 81,338 capacity Stade de France.
  5. ^ Toulon would also play one home game at the 67,394 capacity Stade Vélodrome in Marseille.
  6. ^ Toulouse would also play three home games at the 35,575 capacity Stadium Municipal.
  7. ^ This was the first Top 14 match to see both teams earn bonus points since LNR adopted its revised bonus points system in the 2007-08 season.
  8. ^ Toulouse win their 11th consecutive Top 14 match, breaking the previous record of 10 set last season by Clermont.
  9. ^ Toulouse's Top 14-record win streak of 11 ends.

References

  1. ^ European Rugby Cup. "Albi Could Miss Out on Europe Following Appeal Decision". Archived from the original on 20 June 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-11.
  2. ^ "French try out new bonus point system". Planet-Rugby.com. 2007-06-27. Archived from the original on 2007-09-29. Retrieved 2007-08-13.
  3. ^ a b "Article 330, Section 3.2. Points "terrain"" (PDF). Reglements de la Ligue Nationale de Rugby 2008/2009, Chapitre 2 : Règlement sportif du Championnat de France Professionnel (in French). Ligue Nationale de Rugby. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-02-17. Retrieved 2008-08-27.
  4. ^ "Bourgoin reste parmi l'élite" (in French). L'Équipe. 12 June 2009. Archived from the original on 15 June 2009. Retrieved 15 June 2009.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "RECORDS DE SPECTATEURS PARC DES SPORTS AGUILERA". STADES ET SPECTATEURS. Retrieved 19 September 2018.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "RECORDS DE SPECTATEURS STADE PIERRE ANTOINE". STADES ET SPECTATEURS. Retrieved 19 September 2018.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "RECORDS DE SPECTATEURS STADE MAURICE BOYAU". STADES ET SPECTATEURS. Retrieved 19 September 2018.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "RECORDS DE SPECTATEURS STADE SAPIAC". STADES ET SPECTATEURS. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "RECORDS DE SPECTATEURS STADE YVES DU MANOIR". STADES ET SPECTATEURS. Retrieved 19 September 2018.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "RECORDS DE SPECTATEURS STADE AIME GIRAL". STADES ET SPECTATEURS. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "RECORDS DE SPECTATEURS STADE MAYOL". STADES ET SPECTATEURS. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "RECORDS DE SPECTATEURS STADE JEAN DAUGER". STADES ET SPECTATEURS. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
  13. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "RECORDS DE SPECTATEURS STADE MARCEL MICHELIN". STADES ET SPECTATEURS. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
  14. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "RECORDS DE SPECTATEURS JEAN BOUIN". STADES ET SPECTATEURS. Retrieved 19 September 2018.
  15. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "RECORDS DE SPECTATEURS STADE ERNEST WALLON". STADES ET SPECTATEURS. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
  16. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "RECORDS DE SPECTATEURS STADE PIERRE RAJON". STADES ET SPECTATEURS. Retrieved 19 September 2018.
  17. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "RECORDS DE SPECTATEURS PARC DES SPORTS". STADES ET SPECTATEURS. Retrieved 16 September 2018.
  18. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "RECORDS DE SPECTATEURS STADE GUY BONIFACE". STADES ET SPECTATEURS. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
  19. ^ a b c "RECORDS DE SPECTATEURS STADIUM". STADES ET SPECTATEURS. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
  20. ^ "RECORDS DE SPECTATEURS STADE DES ALPES". STADES ET SPECTATEURS. Retrieved 19 September 2018.
  21. ^ a b c "RECORDS DE SPECTATEURS STADE DE FRANCE". STADES ET SPECTATEURS. Retrieved 19 September 2018.
  22. ^ "RECORDS DE SPECTATEURS STADE VELODROME". STADES ET SPECTATEURS. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
  23. ^ a b "Top 14 : 2008/2009 - Statistiques - Rugby". It's Rugby. Retrieved 20 September 2018.

External links