1996–97 French Rugby Union Championship

1996–97 French Rugby Union Championship
Countries	France
Champions	Toulouse (14th title)
Runners-up	Bourgoin
Relegated	Nîmes, Périgueux, PUC, Dijon
← 1995–96 1997–98 →

The 1996–97 French Rugby Union Championship was played by 20 teams

Stade Toulousain won their 14th title, beating Bourgoin in the final.

Preliminary round

The 20 team were divided in the preliminary phase in two pools of 12. The first eight team of each pool were admitted to "Round of 16". The last two were relegated in second division.

Pool 1

Pos	Team	Pts
1	Bourgoin	45
2	Agen	43
3	Toulouse	42
4	Dax	42
5	Castres	40
6	Biarritz	37
7	Grenoble	32
8	Béziers	30
9	Nîmes	25
10	Périgueux	24

Pool 2

Pos	Team	Pts
1	Brive	43
2	Montferrand	41
3	Perpignan	41
4	Pau	39
5	Bègles-Bordeaux	38
6	Narbonne	38
7	Toulon	38
8	Colomiers	36
9	Paris Université Club	24
10	Dijon	22

Last 16

may ‘97	Toulouse	-	Narbonne	24–22
may ‘97	Brive	-	Colomiers	31–36
may ‘97	Grenoble	-	Agen	27–27
may ‘97	Perpignan	-	Bourdeaux-Begles	26–29
may ‘97	Bourgoin	-	Beziers	23–14
may ‘97	Pau	-	Castres	23–20
may ‘97	Montferrand	-	Toulon	12–6
may ‘97	Dax	-	Biarritz	22–18

Last 8

may ‘97	Toulouse	-	Colomiers	21–12
may ‘97	Agen	-	Bourdeaux-Begles	22–18
may ‘97	Bourgoin	-	Pau	24–18
may ‘97	Montferrand	-	Dax	22–18

Semifinals

may ‘97	Toulouse	-	Agen	23–16
may ‘97	Bourgoin	-	Montferrand	21–17

Final

31 May 1997

Stade Toulousain	12–6	Bourgoin
Pen: Deylaud 3 Drop: Deylaud		Pen: Geany 2

Parc des Princes, Paris
Referee: Daniel Gillet

Stade Toulousain: Christian Califano, Patrick Soula, Jean-Louis Jordana, Hugues Miorin, Franck Belot, Didier Lacroix, Régis Sonnes, Sylvain Dispagne, Jérôme Cazalbou, Christophe Deylaud, David Berty, Thomas Castaignède, Nicolas Martin, Michel Marfaing, Stéphane Ougier – Replacements: Olivier Carbonneau, Julien Tilloles, Xavier Garbajosa, David Couzinet, Pascal Lasserre, Philippe Capelleri
Bourgoin : Philippe Vessilier, Jean-Pierre Sanchez, David Morgan, Marc Cécillon, Jean Daudé, Alexandre Chazalet, Michel Malafosse, Pierre Raschi, Dominique Mazille, Gilles Cassagne, Ludovic Saunier, Stéphane Glas, Alexandre Péclier, Laurent Leflamand, Nigel Geany – Replacements: : Pascal Fernandez, Laurent Gomez,

Top 14

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

The origins	1892 1892–93 1893–94 1894–95 1895–96 1896–97 1897–98 1898–99 1899–00 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19

Between the wars	1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39

During the second world war	1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45

After the second world war	1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60

1960–80	1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80

1980–95	1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95

Professional era and Top 16	1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05

Top 14	2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15

Trophy	Bouclier de Brennus

Rugby union in France

Governing body

Fédération Française de Rugby

National teams

Men's	France A 7s France amateur U-20 U-18

Women's	Women's 7's

Competitions

International	World Cup Six Nations Rugby World Cup Sevens Sevens World Series Sevens Grand Prix Series

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