2023–24 Top 14 season explained

2023–24 Top 14
Countries:	France
Date:	18 August 2023 – 28 June 2024
Champions:	Toulouse (23rd title)
Runnersup:	Bordeaux Bègles
Relegated:	Oyonnax
Matches:	182
Attendance:	2775951
Top Point Scorer:	Joe Simmonds (Pau) (246)
Top Try Scorer:	Baptiste Couilloud (Lyon) (17)
Prevseason:	2022–23
Nextseason:	2024–25

The 2023–24 Top 14 competition is the 125th French domestic rugby union club competition operated by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR).

Format

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 Vélodrome in Marseille. 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]

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 5 points (or fewer). The margin had been 7 points until being changed prior to the 2014–15 season.

From the 2017–18 season onwards, only the 14th placed team is automatically relegated to the Pro D2. The 13th placed team play the runner-up of the Pro D2 play-off, with the winner taking up the final place in the Top 14 for the following season.^[3]

Teams

Fourteen clubs will compete in the 2023–24 Top 14 season, 13 of them returning. Brive were relegated to Pro D2 after finishing at the bottom of the table the previous season. Oyonnax is the sole promoted club, finishing first in the Pro D2 the previous season and winning the Pro D2 playoffs. Perpignan, who finished 13th in the previous Top 14 season, defeated Grenoble in the relegation playoffs to retain their place.

2023–24 Top 14 clubs
Club	City	Stadium	Capacity
Bayonne	Bayonne	Stade Jean Dauger	align=center	16,934
Bordeaux Bègles	Bordeaux	Stade Chaban-Delmas	align=center	33,500
Castres	Castres	Stade Pierre-Fabre	align=center	12,500
Clermont	Clermont-Ferrand	Stade Marcel-Michelin	align=center	19,022
La Rochelle	La Rochelle	Stade Marcel-Deflandre	align=center	16,700
Lyon	Lyon	Matmut Stadium de Gerland	align=center	25,000
Montpellier	Montpellier	Altrad Stadium	align=center	15,697
Oyonnax	Oyonnax	Stade Charles-Mathon	align=center	11,500
Pau	Pau	Stade du Hameau	align=center	14,588
Perpignan	Perpignan	Stade Aimé Giral	align=center	14,593
Racing	Nanterre	Paris La Défense Arena	align=center	30,681
Stade Français	Paris	Stade Jean-Bouin	align=center	20,000
Toulon	Toulon	Stade Mayol	align=center	18,200
Toulouse	Toulouse	Stade Ernest-Wallon	align=center	18,754

2023–24 Top 14 clubs by region
Teams	Region or country	Team(s)
4		Bayonne, Bordeaux Bègles, La Rochelle, Pau
4		Castres, Montpellier, Perpignan, Toulouse
3		Clermont, Lyon, Oyonnax
2		Racing, Stade Français
1

Table

Playoffs

Semi-final Qualifiers

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Semi-finals

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Final


FB	15	Thomas Ramos
RW	14	Juan Cruz Mallía
OC	13	Santiago Chocobares
IC	12	Pita Ahki
LW	11	Blair Kinghorn
FH	10	Romain Ntamack
SH	9	Antoine Dupont (c)
N8	8	Alexandre Roumat
OF	7
BF	6	Francois Cros
RL	5	Thibaud Flament
LL	4	Richie Arnold
TP	3	Dorian Aldegheri
HK	2	Peato Mauvaka
LP	1	Rodrigue Neti
Substitutions:
HK	16	Julien Marchand
PR	17	David Ainuʻu
LK	18	Clément Vergé
N8	19	Joshua Brennan
FL	20	Paul Graou
CE	21	Ange Capuozzo
WG	22	Paul Costes
PR	23	Joël Merkler
Coach:
Ugo Mola


FB	15	Romain Buros
RW	14	Damian Penaud
OC	13	Nicolas Depoortère
IC	12	Yoram Moefana
LW	11	Louis Bielle-Biarrey
FH	10	Matthieu Jalibert
SH	9	Maxime Lucu (c)
N8	8	Tevita Tatafu
OF	7	Mahamadou Diaby
BF	6	Bastien Vergnes-Taillefer
RL	5	Adam Coleman
LL	4	Cyril Cazeaux
TP	3
HK	2	Maxime Lamothe
LP	1	Jefferson Poirot
Substitutions:
HK	16	Clément Maynadier
PR	17	Ugo Boniface
LK	18	Kane Douglas
FL	19	Pierre Bochaton
FL	20	Pete Samu
FH	21	Paul Abadie
CE	22	Pablo Uberti
PR	23	Toma'akino Taufa
Coach:
Yannick Bru

Leading scorers

Most tries

Rank	Club	Tries
1		17
2		14
3		12
4		11
5		10
5	Clermont	10

Attendances

Home Games	Total	Average
13	193,120	14,855
13	361,677	27,821
13	130,668	10,051
13	217,673	16,744
13	217,461	16,728
13	230,226	17,710
13	140,658	10,820
13	119,029	9,156
13	164,379	12,645
13	175,927	13,533
13	154,100	11,854
13	180,605	13,893
13	222,293	17,099
13	268,135	20,626

Notes and References

Web site: French try out new bonus point system . Planet-rugby.com . 27 June 2007 . 13 August 2007 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20070929120105/http://www.planet-rugby.com/Story/0%2C18259%2C3559_2450951%2C00.html . 29 September 2007 .
Web site: Article 330, Section 3.2. Points "terrain" . Règlements de la Ligue Nationale de Rugby 2008/2009, Chapitre 2 : Règlement sportif du Championnat de France Professionnel . . fr . 27 August 2008 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120217084857/http://www.lnr.fr/omm/upload/3%20-%20Titre%20II%20-%20Reglement%20sportif%202008%20-2009.pdf . 17 February 2012 .
French rugby enjoys a popularity boom as it looks to the future . Gavin . Mortimer . Rugby World . 18 August 2016 . 10 May 2017.