| 2016–17 Top 14 | |
| Countries: |  France |
| Date: | 20 August 2016 – 4 June 2017 |
| Champions: | Clermont (2nd title) |
| Runnersup: | Toulon |
| Relegated: | Bayonne, Grenoble |
| Matches: | 187 |
| Attendance: | 2715497 |
| Highest Attendance: | 79,771 (play-offs) Clermont v Toulon 4 June 2017 51,672 (league stage) Toulon v Toulouse 9 April 2016 |
| Lowest Attendance: | 5,000 Stade Français v Grenoble 20 August 2016 |
| Top Point Scorer: | Gaëtan Germain (Brive) 324 points |
| Top Try Scorer: | Waisea Nayacalevu (Stade Français) 14 tries |
| Website: | www.lnr.fr |
| Prevseason: | 2015–16 |
| Nextseason: | 2017–18 |
The 2016–17 Top 14 competition was the 118th French domestic rugby union club competition operated by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR). Two new teams from the 2015–16 Pro D2 season were promoted to Top 14 this year, Bayonne and Lyon in place of the two relegated teams, Agen and Oyonnax. It marked the first time that both promoted teams had returned on their first opportunity after relegation (Bayonne and Lyon were both relegated during the 2014–15 Top 14 season).
| Club | City (department) | Stadium | Capacity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bayonne | Bayonne (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) | Stade Jean Dauger | 16,934 | |
| Bordeaux Bègles | Bordeaux (Gironde) | Stade Chaban-Delmas (Bordeaux) | 34,694 | |
| Brive | Brive-la-Gaillarde (Corrèze) | Stade Amédée-Domenech | 13,979 | |
| Castres | Castres (Tarn) | Stade Pierre-Antoine | 11,500 | |
| Clermont | Clermont-Ferrand (Puy-de-Dôme) | Stade Marcel-Michelin | 19,022 | |
| Grenoble | Grenoble (Isère) | Stade des Alpes | 20,068 | |
| La Rochelle | La Rochelle (Charente-Maritime) | Stade Marcel-Deflandre | 15,000 | |
| Lyon | Lyon (Rhône) | Matmut Stadium de Gerland Matmut Stadium | 25,000 11,805 | |
| Montpellier | Montpellier (Hérault) | Altrad Stadium | 15,697 | |
| Pau | Pau (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) | Stade du Hameau | 18,000 | |
| Racing 92 | Colombes (Hauts-de-Seine) | Stade Olympique Yves-du-Manoir | 14,000 | |
| Stade Français | Paris, 16th arrondissement | Stade Jean-Bouin | 20,000 | |
| Toulon | Toulon (Var) | Stade Mayol | 15,820 | |
| Toulouse | Toulouse (Haute-Garonne) | Stade Ernest-Wallon | 19,500 |
The top six teams at the end of the regular season (after all the teams played one another twice, once at home, once away) enter a knockout stage to decide the Champions of France. This consists of three rounds: the teams finishing third to sixth in the table play quarter-finals (hosted by the third and fourth placed teams). The winners then face the top two teams in the semi-finals, with the winners meeting in the final at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis.
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,[1] a system that also made it impossible for either team to earn a bonus point in a drawn match. LNR chose to continue with this system for subsequent seasons.[2]
France's bonus point system operates as follows:[2]
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Club | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Points For | Points Against | Points | Try Bonus | Losing Bonus | Points | |||||||||
| 1 | La Rochelle (SF) | 26 | 17 | 3 | 6 | 707 | 498 | +209 | 6 | 5 | 85 | ||||||||
| 2 | Clermont (C) | 26 | 15 | 3 | 8 | 800 | 562 | +238 | 8 | 4 | 78 | ||||||||
| 3 | Montpellier (QF) | 26 | 16 | 0 | 10 | 750 | 564 | +186 | 7 | 5 | 76 | ||||||||
| 4 | Toulon (RU) | 26 | 14 | 2 | 10 | 674 | 511 | +163 | 3 | 6 | 69 | ||||||||
| 5 | Castres (QF) | 26 | 13 | 1 | 12 | 667 | 509 | +158 | 5 | 4 | 63 | ||||||||
| 6 | Racing (SF) | 26 | 14 | 1 | 11 | 586 | 616 | –30 | 3 | 1 | 62 | ||||||||
| 7 | Stade Français (CC) | 26 | 12 | 1 | 13 | 643 | 638 | +5 | 5 | 4 | 59 | ||||||||
| 8 | 26 | 13 | 1 | 12 | 577 | 634 | –57 | 0 | 4 | 58 | |||||||||
| 9 | 26 | 12 | 1 | 13 | 604 | 701 | –97 | 2 | 5 | 57 | |||||||||
| 10 | 26 | 11 | 2 | 13 | 573 | 632 | –59 | 3 | 4 | 55 | |||||||||
| 11 | 26 | 11 | 1 | 14 | 569 | 581 | –12 | 2 | 6 | 54 | |||||||||
| 12 | 26 | 11 | 0 | 15 | 537 | 561 | –24 | 3 | 6 | 53 | |||||||||
| 13 | Grenoble (R) | 26 | 7 | 1 | 18 | 611 | 852 | –241 | 2 | 6 | 38 | ||||||||
| 14 | Bayonne (R) | 26 | 6 | 3 | 17 | 466 | 905 | –439 | 0 | 0 | 30 | ||||||||
If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:
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| Green background (rows 1 and 2) receive semi-final play-off places and receive berths in the 2016–17 European Rugby Champions Cup. Blue background (rows 3 to 6) receive quarter-final play-off places, and receive berths in the Champions Cup. Yellow background (row 7) receive a berth for the 2017–18 European Rugby Champions–Challenge Cup play-offs. Plain background indicates teams that earn a place in the 2017–18 European Rugby Challenge Cup. Pink background (row 13) will be contest a play-off with the runners-up of the 2016–17 Rugby Pro D2 season for a place in the 2017–18 Top 14 season. Red background (row 14) will be relegated to Rugby Pro D2. Final table | |||||||||||||||||||
Normally, the teams that finish in 13th and 14th places in the table are relegated to Pro D2 at the end of the season. In certain circumstances, "financial reasons" may cause a higher placed team to be demoted instead. This last happened at the end of the 2009–10 season when 12th place Montauban were relegated thereby reprieving 13th place Bayonne.
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Note: Flags to the left of player names indicate national team as has been defined under World Rugby eligibility rules, or primary nationality for players who have not yet earned international senior caps. Players may hold one or more non-WR nationalities.
| Rank | Player | Club | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gaëtan Germain | Brive | 324 | |
| 2 |  Benjamin Urdapilleta | Castres | 253 | |
| 3 | Leigh Halfpenny | Toulon | 223 | |
| 4 | Jonathan Wisniewski | Grenoble | 220 | |
| 5 |  Brock James | La Rochelle | 214 | |
| 6 |  Tom Taylor | Pau | 208 | |
| 7 | Jules Plisson | Stade Français | 201 | |
| 8 | Morgan Parra | Clermont | 183 | |
| 9 | Dan Carter | Racing | 166 | |
| 10 | Frédéric Michalak | Lyon | 155 |
| Club | Home Games | Total | Average | Highest | Lowest | % Capacity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bayonne | 13 | 166,415 | 12,801 | 16,933 | 10,200 | 76% |
| Bordeaux Bègles | 13 | 310,438 | 23,880 | 28,212 | 18,564 | 68% |
| Brive | 13 | 137,578 | 10,583 | 13,979 | 8,979 | 76% |
| Castres | 13 | 114,008 | 8,770 | 10,228 | 7,903 | 76% |
| Clermont | 13 | 221,080 | 17,006 | 18,778 | 15,000 | 89% |
| Grenoble | 13 | 167,164 | 12,859 | 15,200 | 9,000 | 64% |
| La Rochelle | 13 | 193,586 | 14,891 | 15,000 | 13,860 | 99% |
| Lyon | 13 | 159,491 | 12,269 | 21,465 | 8,385 | 74% |
| Montpellier | 14 | 157,738 | 11,267 | 14,997 | 9,000 | 72% |
| Pau | 13 | 144,903 | 11,146 | 12,064 | 10,018 | 62% |
| Racing 92 | 13 | 136,349 | 10,488 | 31,432 | 6,101 | 62% |
| Stade Francais | 13 | 141,794 | 10,907 | 19,883 | 5,000 | 55% |
| Toulon | 14 | 259,107 | 18,508 | 51,672 | 11,207 | 86% |
| Toulouse | 13 | 198,310 | 15,255 | 24,989 | 10,034 | 70% |