1998–99 French Rugby Union Championship

1998–99 French Rugby Union Championship
Countries	France
Champions	Tolouse (14th title)
Runners-up	Montferrand
Relegated	Nice, Béziers
← 1998–99 2000–01 →

The 1998–99 French Rugby Union Championship was played by 24 teams divided in the preliminary phase in three pools of 8. The first five team of each pool and the better 6th were admitted to second round. The other played a relegation tournament divided in two pools .

Tolouse won the title, beating Montferrand in the final (that lose for 6th time the final).

First Round

Pool 1

Pos	Team	Points
1	Stade Français	34
2	Biarritz	34
3	Narbonne	32
4	Castres	32
5	Bourgoin	29
6	Toulon	28
7	Aurillac	21
8	Nîmes	14

Pool 2

Pos	Team	Points
1	Perpignan	34
2	Montferrand	33
3	Agen	32
4	Dax	31
5	Bègles-Bordeaux	29
6	Béziers	28
7	Auch	20
8	Nice	17

Pool 3

Pos	Team	Points
1	Tolouse	38
2	Brive	36
3	Pau	33
4	Grenoble	30
5	Colomiers	26
6	Périgueux	23
7	Racing Paris	20
8	La Rochelle	18

Béziers and Toulon had both 28 points. The "best 6th" was Toulon for less "red Cards" during the season.

Second round

The first of each pools were qualified to quarter of finals

Pool 1

Pos	Team	Points
1	Tolouse	15
2	Bourgoin	13
3	Biarritz	10
4	Agen	10

Pool 2

Pos	Team	Points
1	Colomiers	16
2	Stade Français	12
3	Narbonne	10
4	Pau	10

Pool 3

Pos	Team	Points
1	CA Bègles-Bordeaux	14
2	Castres	14
3	Perpignan	12
4	Dax	8

Pool 4

Pos	Team	Points
1	Montferrand	14
2	Grenoble	12
3	Toulon	12
4	Brive	10

Grenoble was 2nd for less number of "red cards" during the season .

Quarters of final

15 may	Bourdeaux-Begles	-	Bourgoin	8–14
15 may	Toulouse	-	Stade Français	51–19
16 may	Montferrand	-	Castres	28–27
16 may	Colomiers	-	Grenoble	15–29

Semifinals

22 may	Montferrand	-	Grenoble	26–17
22 may	Toulouse	-	Bourgoin	26–17

Final

29 May 1999

Toulose	15–11	Montferrand
Try: Stensness, Desbrosse Con: Marfaing Pen: Marfaing		Try: Nadau Pen: Merceron

Stade de France, Paris
Referee: Gérard Borreani

Toulose: Christian Califano, Yannick Bru, Franck Tournaire, Fabien Pelous, Franck Belot, Didier Lacroix, Christian Labit, Sylvain Dispagne, Jérôme Cazalbou, Lee Stensness, Michel Marfaing, Émile Ntamack, Cédric Desbrosse, Xavier Garbajosa, Stéphane Ougier – Replacements: Hugues Miorin, Jean-Louis Jordana, Pierre Bondouy, Matthieu Lièvremont, Christophe Deylaud, jérôme Fillol, Patrick Soula
Montferrand : Emmanuel Menieu, Olivier Azam, Fabrice Heyer, David Barrier, Christophe Sarraute, Arnaud Costes, Jean-Marc Lhermet, David Courteix, Stéphane Castaignède, Gérald Merceron, David Bory, Tony Marsh, Jérôme Morante, Jimmy Marlu, Nicolas Nadau- Replacements: Christophe Larue, Éric Nicol, Olivier Toulouze, Jérôme Bonvoisin, Olivier Merle, Patrick Laurent-Varange, Christophe Duchêne

Relegation Pools

Pool 1

Pos	Team	Points
1	Auch	14
2	Racing Parigi	14
3	Nîmes	10
4	Béziers	10

Béziers was classified last for worst point difference in the direct matches (Nîmes-Béziers 15–5 ; 36–37), and was relegated in Pro D2.

Pool 2

Pos	Team	Points
1	Aurillac	15
2	Périgueux	11
3	La Rochelle	9
4	Nice	5

(ranking after 5 on 6)

RC Nice was relegated in Pro D2.

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

Governing body

Fédération Française de Rugby

National teams

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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