2007–08 Top 14 season

2007–08 Top 14 season
Countries  France
Champions Toulouse
Runners-up Clermont
Relegated Albi
Auch

The 2007-08 Top 14 Competition was a French domestic rugby union club competition, operated by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR). Because France hosted the 2007 Rugby World Cup, the competition did not begin at its normal time of August, but instead started on the last weekend in October 2007, one week after the Rugby World Cup final. The league compensated for the late start by playing on several weekends that it normally skips, namely the weekends of the 2008 Six Nations Championship and the semifinals and final of the 2007-08 Heineken Cup. The season ended on June 28, 2008, with Toulouse defeating regular-season league leader Clermont 2620 in the final and thereby lifting the Bouclier de Brennus.

This year's edition of the Top 14 welcomed Auch and Dax, who earned promotion from Rugby Pro D2.[1] Agen and Narbonne were relegated from the Top 14.

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, with the final at Stade de France. Going into the season, the top six clubs were guaranteed of berths in the 2008-09 Heineken Cup. Since Toulouse advanced to the 2007-08 Heineken Cup final against Irish club Munster, thereby assuring a higher finish for a French team in that competition than for any team from England or Italy, the seventh-place club also earned a berth in the 2008-09 Heineken Cup. The bottom two teams were provisionally relegated to Pro D2, with the possibility of one or both of the bottom teams to be reprieved if a team above them failed a postseason financial audit. This happened in 2007-08, as Albi failed the audit, ultimately giving a reprieve to second-from bottom Dax.

This season, LNR trialled a modification to the bonus point system in both the Top 14 and Pro D2. The system to be used this season was:[2]

This system was explicitly intended to prevent a losing team from earning two bonus points, as is possible under the standard system.[2]

Popularity

The league has seen a major increase in attendance in recent years. In 2006-07, per-game attendance averaged 10,549,[3] up from 9,288 in 2005-06[4] and 7,255 in 2004-05,[5] when the league consisted of 16 teams instead of its current 14. The 2005-06 and 2006-07 totals are skewed to some degree because Stade Français drew over 79,000 fans to each of the two fixtures they played at Stade de France in both seasons. However, even if the Stade de France fixtures are not included, per-game attendance was 8,549 in 2005-06[4] and 9,267 in 2006-07,[3] both well above the 2004-05 figures.

The final average attendance for the 2007-08 regular season was 10,966, another increase from the previous season. The LNR also reported that league-wide season ticket sales were up by 11% from 2006-07.[6] The most-attended matches were the three Stade Français matches played at Stade de France, each of which drew more than 75,000, and Toulouse's home opener in Round 2 against Montpellier, which drew 34,791 at Stadium Municipal.[7]

Table

Key to colors
     League champions; receive a place in the 2008-09 Heineken Cup.
     Remaining participants in playoffs also receive places in the 2008-09 Heineken Cup.
     Fifth and sixth place also receive automatic Heineken Cup berths.
     Seventh place receives a Heineken Cup berth because Toulouse advanced farther in the 2007-08 Heineken Cup than any team from England or Italy.
     Relegated to Rugby Pro D2—Albi due to financial issues, Auch as bottom finisher.
2007-08 Top 14 Table
Club Played Won Drawn Lost Points for Points against Bonus points Points
1 Clermont 26 20 0 6 773 380 16 96
2 Toulouse 26 19 0 7 723 394 15 91
3 Stade Français 26 18 0 8 617 417 8 80
4 Perpignan 26 17 2 7 531 392 7 79
5 Castres 26 15 0 11 564 524 9 69
6 Biarritz 26 13 1 12 385 339 12 66
7 Montauban 26 13 0 13 420 446 11 63
8 Montpellier 26 14 0 12 426 490 5 61
9 Bayonne 26 11 1 14 457 535 8 54
10 Bourgoin 26 10 2 14 453 526 8 52
11 Brive 26 10 0 16 425 514 11 51
12 Albi 26 9 1 16 415 549 10 48
13 Dax 26 6 1 19 314 645 8 34
14 Auch 26 3 0 23 336 688 7 19

If clubs are level on competition points, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:

  1. Head-to-head competition points earned.
  2. Points differential in head-to-head matches.
  3. Difference between tries scored and tries conceded in head-to-head matches.
  4. Points differential in all matches.
  5. Difference between tries scored and tries conceded in all matches.
  6. Number of points scored in all matches.
  7. Number of tries scored in all matches.
  8. Final classification in the last Top 14 regular season.
  9. Fewer red cards issued during the season.

Albi's relegation

Due to financial irregularities, SC Albi were relegated to the Pro D2 for 2008-09. This saved Dax from relegation and gave them what had been Albi's place in the Challenge Cup.[8]


Schedule and results

From the official Top 14 site. Within each weekend, matches are listed in the following order:

  1. By date.
  2. If matches are held on the same day, by kickoff time.
  3. Otherwise, in alphabetic order of home club.

All times CET.

Rounds 1 to 5

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Rounds 6 to 10

Round 6

Round 7

Round 8

Round 9

Round 10

Rounds 11 to 15

Round 11

Round 12

Round 13

Round 14

Round 15

Rounds 16 to 20

Round 16

Round 17

Round 18

Round 19

Round 20

Rounds 21 to 26

Round 21

Round 22

Round 23

Round 24

Round 25

Round 26

Semi-finals

2007-06-21
17:00
Clermont 21 7 Perpignan
Tries: Nalaga (2) 23' c, 47' m
Con: James (1/2)
Pen: James (2/3) 21', 40'
Drop: James (1/1) 10'
(Report) Try: N. Laharrague 63' c
Con: Montgomery (1/1)

2007-06-22
15:15
Toulouse 31 13 Stade Français
Tries: Médard 44' c
Jauzion (2) 56' c, 60' m
Con: Elissalde (1/1)
Kunavore (1/2)
Pen: Elissalde (2/2) 20', 22'
Kunavore (1/1) 48'
Drop: Fritz (1/1) 77'
(Report) Try: Fillol 73' c
Con: Hernández (1/1)
Pen: Hernández (2/2) 24', 52'

Final

2008-06-28
21:00
Clermont 20 26 Toulouse
Tries: Rougerie 20' c
Zirakashvili 80' c
Con: James (2/2)
Pen: James (2/2) 13', 69'
Tries: Servat 17' c
Médard 60' c
Con: Elissalde (2/2)
Pen: Elissalde (2/3) 33', 56'
Kunavore (1/1) 74'
Courrent (1/1) 79'
Stade de France, Saint-Denis
Referee: Eric Darrière France
CLERMONT AUVERGNE:
FB 15France Benoît Baby  65'
RW 14France Aurélien Rougerie (c)
OC 13Italy Gonzalo Canale  52'
IC 12South Africa Marius Joubert
LW 11Fiji Napolioni Nalaga
FH 10Australia Brock James
SH 9 France Pierre Mignoni
N8 8 France Elvis Vermeulen  62'
OF 7 France Alexandre Audebert
BF 6 France Julien Bonnaire
RL 5 France Thibaut Privat  66'
LL 4 Canada Jamie Cudmore  56'
TP 3 France Laurent Emmanuelli  52'
HK 2 Argentina Mario Ledesma  68'
LP 1 Georgia (country) Davit Zirakashvili
Replacements:
HK 16South Africa John Smit  68'
PR 17France Thomas Domingo  52'
LK 18France Loïc Jacquet  66'
LK 19France Christophe Samson  56'
N8 20New Zealand Sam Broomhall  62'
CE 21Fiji Seremaia Bai  52'
FB 22France Anthony Floch  65'
Coach:
New Zealand Vern Cotter
TOULOUSE:
FB 15France Maxime Médard
RW 14France Yves Donguy
OC 13Fiji Maleli Kunavore  78'
IC 12France Yannick Jauzion
LW 11France Cédric Heymans
FH 10France Jean-Baptiste Élissalde  62'
SH 9 New Zealand Byron Kelleher
N8 8 South Africa Shaun Sowerby  76'
OF 7 France Thierry Dusautoir  56'
BF 6 France Jean Bouilhou (c)
RL 5 France Fabien Pelous  65'
LL 4 Argentina Patricio Albacete
TP 3 Argentina Omar Hasan
HK 2 France William Servat  78'
LP 1 South Africa Daan Human  56'
Replacements:
PR 16France Jean-Baptiste Poux  56'
HK 17Argentina Alberto Vernet Basualdo  78'
LK 18France Romain Millo-Chluski  65'
FL 19France Grégory Lamboley  76'
N8 20Tonga Finau Maka  56'
FH 21France Valentin Courrent  78'
CE 22France Florian Fritz  62'
Coach:
France Guy Novès

Notes and references

  1. "Top 14 . Les clubs". Ligue Nationale de Rugby. Retrieved 2007-08-13.
  2. 1 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. 1 2 Ligue Nationale de Rugby. "Affluence totale par club: TOP 14 - 26 premières journées - Saison 2006-2007" (in French). Archived from the original on 2007-10-11. Retrieved 2007-08-17.
  4. 1 2 Ligue Nationale de Rugby. "Affluence totale par club: TOP 14 - 26 premières journées - Saison 2005-2006" (in French). Archived from the original on 2007-10-11. Retrieved 2007-08-17.
  5. Ligue Nationale de Rugby. "Affluence totale par club: TOP 16 - 30 premières journées - Saison 2004-2005" (in French). Archived from the original on 2007-10-10. Retrieved 2007-08-17.
  6. Agence France-Presse (2008-06-27). "Top 14 the 'cash cow' of the French". RugbyRugby.com. Retrieved 2008-06-28.
  7. Ligue Nationale de Rugby. "TOP 14: Les affluences club/club, journée/journée" (in French). Archived from the original on 2008-03-29. Retrieved 2008-06-28.
  8. European Rugby Cup. "Albi Could Miss Out on Europe Following Appeal Decision". Archived from the original on 20 June 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-11.

See also

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