2008–09 Top 14 season

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, 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.

France's bonus point system operates as follows:

• 4 points for a win.
• 2 points for a draw.
• 1 "bonus" point for winning while scoring at least 3 more tries than the opponent. This replaces the standard bonus point for scoring 4 tries regardless of the match result.
• 1 "bonus" point for losing by 7 points (or less).

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.

• Second division: 2008–09 Rugby Pro D2 season

Table

Qualified for the 2009–10 Heineken Cup

Fixtures & Results

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

Con: James (1/1) Pen: James (2/3) 4', 63' Baby (2/2) 28', 45'

Mermoz 48' c Candelon 62' m Con: Porical (2/3) Pen: Porical (2/6) 5', 36' Parisse 69' c Con: Beauxis (1/2) Pen: Beauxis (2/4) 33', 55' Drop: Beauxis 12'

Final

Con: Porical (1/1) Pen: Porical (4/4) 40', 49, 61', 64' Drop: Hume 15' Con: James (1/1) Pen: James (2/3) 19', 55'

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Leading scorers

• Note that points scorers includes tries as well as conversions, penalties and drop goals.

Top points scorers

Top try scorers

Attendances

• Attendances do not include the semi-finals or final as these are at neutral venues.

Notes

References

• "Ligue Nationale de Rugby". lnr.fr. Accessed July 27, 2008.

References

1. European Rugby Cup. "Albi Could Miss Out on Europe Following Appeal Decision".
2. (2007-06-27). "French try out new bonus point system". Planet-Rugby.com.
3. "Article 330, Section 3.2. Points "terrain"". Ligue Nationale de Rugby.
4. (2009-06-12). "Bourgoin reste parmi l'élite". [[L'Équipe]].
5. "RECORDS DE SPECTATEURS PARC DES SPORTS AGUILERA".
6. "RECORDS DE SPECTATEURS STADE PIERRE ANTOINE".
7. "RECORDS DE SPECTATEURS STADE MAURICE BOYAU".
8. "RECORDS DE SPECTATEURS STADE SAPIAC".
9. "RECORDS DE SPECTATEURS STADE YVES DU MANOIR".
10. "RECORDS DE SPECTATEURS STADE AIME GIRAL".
11. "RECORDS DE SPECTATEURS STADE MAYOL".
12. "RECORDS DE SPECTATEURS STADE JEAN DAUGER".
13. "RECORDS DE SPECTATEURS STADE MARCEL MICHELIN".
14. "RECORDS DE SPECTATEURS JEAN BOUIN".
15. "RECORDS DE SPECTATEURS STADE ERNEST WALLON".
16. "RECORDS DE SPECTATEURS STADE PIERRE RAJON".
17. "RECORDS DE SPECTATEURS PARC DES SPORTS".
18. "RECORDS DE SPECTATEURS STADE GUY BONIFACE".
19. "RECORDS DE SPECTATEURS STADIUM".
20. "RECORDS DE SPECTATEURS STADE DES ALPES".
21. "RECORDS DE SPECTATEURS STADE DE FRANCE".
22. "RECORDS DE SPECTATEURS STADE VELODROME".
23. "Top 14 : 2008/2009 - Statistiques - Rugby".