1995–96 French Rugby Union Championship

1995–96 French Rugby Union Championship
Countries	France
Champions	Toulouse (13th title)
Runners-up	Brive
Relegated	Nîmes, Périgueux, PUC, Dijon
← 1994–95 1996–97 →

The 1996–97 French Rugby Union Championship was played by 20 teams in the first division ("A1")

In the "A1" group were abstent historical clubs like Béziers, Biarritz, Tarbes, and FC Lourdes.

The teams were divided in two pool of 10, and the first 4 were directly qualified to the "Last 16" round, while the ranked from 5th to 8th were admitted to a "barrage" with eight teams from "A2" group.

Stade Toulousain won their 13th title winning the final against CA Brive, who lost their 4th final.

Four team were relegated to lower level: Bayonne, Racing club de France, Montpellier, RC Nice et FCS Rumilly that were replaced by Béziers, Biarritz, Périgueux, Dijon, and Paris Université Club.

Stade Toulousain won his 14th title beating in the final the Bourgoin, at his first final.

Phase de qualification

Pool 1

Pos	Team	Points
1	Toulouse	43
2	Grenoble	41
3	Toulon	40
4	Narbonne	38
5	Agen	36
6	Perpignan	36
7	Nîmes	34
8	Nice	33
9	Bayonne	32
10	Racing club de France	27

Pool 2

Pos	Team	Points
1	CA Brive	42
2	Bourgoin	41
3	Castres	38
4	Bourdeaux-Begles	38
5	Montferrand	38
6	Pau	36
7	Dax	36
8	Colomiers	34
9	Rumilly	33
10	Montpellier	24

Barrage

may ‘96	Nice	-	ES Catalane	9–12
may ‘96	Biarritz	-	Montferrand	3–40
may ‘96	Dax	-	Lourdes	49–13
may ‘96	Beziers	-	Perpignan	18–31
may ‘96	Auch	-	Colomiers	9–24
may ‘96	Agen	-	Dijon	35–3
may ‘96	PUC	-	Pau	28–54
may ‘96	Périgueux	-	Nîmes	18–15

Last 16

may ‘96	Toulouse	-	ES Catalane	27–16
may ‘96	Narbonne	-	Montferrand	23–20
may ‘96	Dax	-	Grenoble	28–14
may ‘96	Toulon	-	Perpignan	16–15
may ‘96	Brive	-	Colomiers	24–18
may ‘96	Agen	-	Bourdeaux-Begles	25–18
may ‘96	Castres	-	Pau	6–14
may ‘96	Périgueux	-	Bourgoin	12–26

Last 8

may ‘96	Toulouse	-	Narbonne	12–9
may ‘96	Dax	-	Toulon	25–11
may ‘96	Brive	-	Agen	13–12
may ‘96	Pau	-	Bourgoin	21–18

Semifinals

may '96	Toulouse	-	Dax	36–23
may '96	Brive	-	Pau	23–21

Final

1 june 1996

Toulouse	20–13	Brive
Try: D.Berty Pen: C.Deylaud,T.Castaignède 2 Drop: C.Deylaud 2, T.Castaignède		Con: S.Paillat Pen: S.Paillat 2

Parc des Princes, Paris
Referee: Patrick Thomas

Stade Toulousain: Christian Califano, Patrick Soula, Claude Portolan, Hugues Miorin, Franck Belot, Didier Lacroix, Hervé Manent, Sylvain Dispagne, Jérôme Cazalbou, Christophe Deylaud, David Berty, Thomas Castaignède, Philippe Carbonneau, Émile Ntamack, Stéphane Ougier -Replacements : Richard Castel, Èric Artiguste, Olivier Carbonneau
Bourgoin : Didier Casadeï, Vincent Moscato, Richard Crespy, Éric Alégret, Laurent Bonventre, Loïc Van Der Linden, Alain Carminati, Thierry Labrousse, Sébastien Bonnet, Alain Penaud, Christophe Lucquiaud, Jean-Marie Soubira, Romuald Paillat, Sébastien Carrat, Sébastien Paillat -Replacements : Didier Faugeron, François Duboisset, Yvan Manhes

Top 14

2014–15 Teams	Bayonne Bordeaux Brive Castres Clermont Grenoble La Rochelle Lyon Montpellier Oyonnax Racing Métro Stade Français Toulon Toulouse

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Trophy	Bouclier de Brennus

Rugby union in France

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Fédération Française de Rugby

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Professional Club	European Rugby Champions Cup European Rugby Challenge Cup National Rugby League (France) Top 14 Pro D2 Fédérale 1 Fédérale 2 Fédérale 3 Challenge Yves du Manoir