2012–13 Top 14 season explained

Countries:	France
Champions:	Castres Olympique
Runnersup:	Toulon
Relegated:	Agen, Mont-de-Marsan
Matches:	187
Attendance:	2589905
Tries:	664
Top Point Scorer:	Rory Kockott (376)
Top Try Scorer:	Napolioni Nalaga (13)
Prevseason:	2011–12
Nextseason:	2013–14

The 2012–13 Top 14 competition was a French domestic rugby union club competition operated by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR). Two new teams from the 2011–12 Pro D2 season were promoted to Top 14 this year, Grenoble and Stade Montois in place of the two relegated teams, CA Brive and Lyon OU. Home-and-away play began on 17 August 2012 and continued through to 5 May 2013.^[1] The regular season was followed by a three-round playoff involving the top six sides. The final was contested at the Stade de France between Toulon and Castres; the match was won 19–14 by Castres^[2] to earn them their first title since the controversial final in 1993.^[3] ^[4]

Teams

Club	Full name	City (department)	Stadium
SU Agen	Sporting Union Agen Lot-et-Garonne	Agen (Lot-et-Garonne)	Stade Armandie
Aviron Bayonnais	Aviron Bayonnais	Bayonne (Pyrénées-Atlantiques)	Stade Jean Dauger
Biarritz Olympique	Biarritz Olympique Pays Basque	Biarritz (Pyrénées-Atlantiques)	Parc des Sports Aguiléra
Union Bordeaux Bègles	Union Bordeaux Bègles	Bordeaux (Gironde)	Stade Chaban-Delmas (Bordeaux) Stade André Moga (Bègles)
Castres Olympique	Castres Olympique	Castres (Tarn)	Stade Pierre-Antoine
ASM Clermont Auvergne	Association Sportive Montferrandaise Clermont Auvergne	Clermont-Ferrand (Puy-de-Dôme)	Stade Marcel-Michelin
FC Grenoble	Football Club Grenoble Rugby	Grenoble (Isère)	Stade Lesdiguières
Stade Montois	Stade Montois	Mont-de-Marsan (Landes)	Stade Guy Boniface
Montpellier Hérault Rugby	Montpellier Hérault Rugby	Montpellier (Hérault)	Stade Yves-du-Manoir
USA Perpignan	Union Sportive Arlequins Perpignanais	Perpignan (Pyrénées-Orientales)	Stade Aimé Giral
Racing Métro	Racing Métro 92	Colombes (Hauts-de-Seine)	Stade Olympique Yves-du-Manoir
Stade Français Paris	Stade Français Club Athlétique des Sports Généraux Paris	Paris, 16th arrondissement	Stade Charléty
RC Toulonnais	Rugby Club Toulonnais	Toulon (Var)	Stade Mayol
Stade Toulousain	Stade Toulousain	Toulouse (Haute-Garonne)	Stade Ernest-Wallon

Team information

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Last Promotion	Budget 2012–13 million EUR^[5]	Position in 2011–12 season	Coach(es)	Capacity
2010	13.2	10		14,000
2004	17.9	12	Christophe Deylaud Christian Lanta	16,934
1996	17.3	9		15,000
2011	11.9	8		09,088
1989	15.6	4		11,500
1925	25.5	2		18,030
2012	14.9			12,000
2012	6.2			22,000
2003	17.5	5		14,700
1997	22.8	7		20,000
1911	14.4	11		14,593
2009	21.7	6	Gonzalo Quesada Simon Raiwalui	14,000
2008	21.8	3 (finalist)		15,000
1907	34.9	1 (Champion)		19,500

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Playoffs

All times are in Central European Summer Time (UTC+2).

Final


FB	15	Delon Armitage
RW	14
OC	13	Mathieu Bastareaud
IC	12	Matt Giteau
LW	11	Alexis Palisson
FH	10	Jonny Wilkinson (c)
SH	9
N8	8
OF	7	Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe
BF	6
RL	5	Nick Kennedy
LL	4	Bakkies Botha
TP	3
HK	2
LP	1
Substitutions:
HK	16
PR	17
LK	18	Jocelino Suta
N8	19
FL	20
CE	21
FH	22
PR	23
Coach:
Bernard Laporte


FB	15	Brice Dulin
RW	14	Romain Martial
OC	13	Romain Cabannes
IC	12	Seremaia Bai
LW	11	Marc Andreu
FH	10	Rémi Talès (c)
SH	9	Rory Kockott
N8	8	Antonie Claassen
OF	7	Yannick Caballero
BF	6
RL	5
LL	4	Christophe Samson
TP	3
HK	2	Brice Mach
LP	1
Substitutions:
HK	16	Mathieu Bonello
PR	17
LK	18
FL	19
FB	20	Romain Teulet
FH	21
CE	22	Paul Bonnefond
PR	23
Coaches:
Laurent Travers
Laurent Labit

Touch judges:
Pascal Gaüzère
Sébastien Clouté
Television match official:
Philippe Bonhoure

Statistics

Top points scorers

Updated 11 June 2013

Table of top points scorers
scope=col style="background-color:#ccccff; width:50px;"	Rank	scope=col style="background-color:#ccccff; width:150px;"	Player	scope=col style="background-color:#ccccff; width:200px;"	Club	scope=col style="background-color:#ccccff; width:150px;"	Position	scope=col style="background-color:#ccccff; width:50px;"	Points	scope=col style="background-color:#ccccff; width:50px;"	Tries	scope=col style="background-color:#ccccff; width:50px;"	Conversions	scope=col style="background-color:#ccccff; width:50px;"	Penalties	scope=col style="background-color:#ccccff; width:50px;"	Drop goals
1				376	8	33	90	0
2				373	0	47	85	8
3			Fly-half	262	2	21	68	2
4			Fly-half	232	2	33	49	3
5				224	0	13	66	0
6			Fly-half	222	3	33	47	0
7			Fly-half	191	2	14	49	2
8			Scrum-half	186	1	35	37	0
9			Fly-half	179	0	10	51	2
10			Fly-half	179	3	13	46	0

Top try scorers