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2009–10 Top 14 season
Countries	France
Champions	Clermont (1st title)
Runners-up	Perpignan
Relegated	Montauban Albi
Matches played	187
Attendance	2,672,064 (average 14,289 per match)
Highest attendance	79,262 (play-offs) Perpignan v Clermont 29 May 2010 78,254 (league stage) Stade Français v Toulouse 6 March 2010
Lowest attendance	4,813 Bourgoin v Montauban 6 March 2010
Tries scored	597 (average 3.2 per match)
Top point scorer	Romain Teulet (263)
Top try scorer	Sam Gerber (9)
← 2008–092010–11 →

The 2009–10 Top 14 competition was a French domestic rugby union club competition operated by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR). It began on August 14, 2009 with a match between Toulon and Stade Français at Stade Mayol in Toulon, and continued through to the final at the Stade de France on May 29, 2010.

This year's edition of the Top 14 welcomed Racing Métro, winners of the 2009 title in the second-level Pro D2, and Albi, victors in the 2009 promotion playoffs between the second- through fifth-placed teams in Pro D2, thus becoming the first team to achieve promotion to the Top 14 only one year after being relegated. They took the place of the two clubs from Landes, Dax and Mont-de-Marsan, relegated at the end of the 2008–09 Top 14. Mont-de-Marsan, which had been promoted to the Top 14 for 2008–09, finished bottom of the table and went down. The other newly promoted team in 2008–09, Toulon, finished ninth, sending Dax, who had already finished second-to-bottom the previous season before being allowed to stay in the Top 14 due to Albi's financial troubles, to Pro D2.

The two teams promoted for 2009–10 had very different results. Albi finished bottom of the table by a wide margin and went directly back to Pro D2. Racing Métro, on the other hand, finished sixth, giving them a berth in the newly expanded playoffs and a place in the 2010–11 Heineken Cup. Bayonne finished in the other relegation spot of 13th place, but were reprieved due to the financial problems of 12th-place Montauban.

The season ended with Clermont winning their first French national title in their nearly century-long history, defeating defending champions Perpignan 19–6 in a rematch of last season's final. This result ended decades of frustration for Les Jaunards and their supporters, who had previously tasted defeat in all 10 of their previous final-game appearances.

Teams

Club City (department) Stadium Capacity Previous season Albi Albi (Tarn) Stadium Municipal d'Albi 13,058 Promoted from Pro D2 (play-offs) Bayonne Bayonne (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) Stade Jean Dauger 16,934 7th Biarritz Biarritz (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) Parc des Sports Aguiléra 15,000 5th Bourgoin Bourgoin-Jallieu (Isère) Stade Pierre Rajon 9,441 11th Brive Brive-la-Gaillarde (Corrèze) Stade Amédée-Domenech 15,000 6th Castres Castres (Tarn) Stade Pierre-Fabre 11,500 12th Clermont Clermont-Ferrand (Puy-de-Dôme) Stade Marcel-Michelin 16,574 Runners up (3rd in league) Montauban Montauban (Tarn-et-Garonne) Stade Sapiac 12,600 8th Montpellier Montpellier (Hérault) Stade Yves-du-Manoir 15,789 10th Perpignan Perpignan (Pyrénées-Orientales) Stade Aimé Giral 16,593 Champions (1st in league) Racing Métro Colombes (Hauts-de-Seine) Stade Olympique Yves-du-Manoir 14,000 Promoted from Pro D2 (champions) Stade Français Paris, 16th arrondissement Stade Jean-Bouin 12,000 Semi-finals (4th in league) Toulon Toulon (Var) Stade Mayol 13,800 9th Toulouse Toulouse (Haute-Garonne) Stade Ernest-Wallon 19,500 Semi-finals (2nd in league)

AlbiBayonneBiarritzBourgoinBriveCastresClermontMontaubanMontpellierPerpignanRacing MétroStade FrançaisToulonToulouseclass=notpageimage| Locations of the 2009–10 Top 14 teams

Managerial changes

• On 8 September, Stade Français sacked head coach Ewen McKenzie and his assistant Christophe Dominici after a disastrous start to the season put the Parisians in the drop zone. Jacques Delmas and Didier Faugeron were named as co-head coaches. Dominici, who owns a small stake in the club, was expected to remain in some capacity. (Stade Français quickly exited relegation danger, scoring bonus-point wins in three of their next four matches.)
• On 26 October, struggling Brive, lying just above the drop zone at the time, sacked head coach Laurent Seigne. The move came a week after honorary club president Patrick Sébastien resigned. Ugo Mola, previously backs coach for Brive, was promoted to the head coaching position.
• On 7 November, Richard Dourthe resigned at Bayonne after a run of defeats put them in the drop zone. Club president Francis Salagoïty announced later that day that Thierry Mentières and Jean-Philippe Coyola would serve as co-head coaches.
• On 19 March, Stade Français announced a reorganisation effective at the end of the 2009–10 season. Michael Cheika, whose contract with Celtic League side Leinster expires at the end of this season, signed a three-year deal to become Director of Rugby and effective head coach from 2010–11.

Captains and head coaches

Club	Captain	Head Coach
Albi	Vincent Clément	Jean Christophe Bacca Philippe Laurent
Bayonne	Rémy Martin	Christian Gajan
Biarritz	Jérôme Thion	Jack Isaac Jean-Michel Gonzalez
Bourgoin	Julien Frier	Éric Catinot Xavier Péméja
Brive	Fabrice Estebanez	Ugo Mola Christophe Laussucq
Castres	Alexandre Albouy Sébastien Tillous-Borde	Laurent Labit Laurent Travers
Clermont	Aurélien Rougerie	Vern Cotter
Montauban	Matthew Clarkin	Sébastien Calvet Marc Raynaud
Montpellier	Fulgence Ouedraogo	Warren Britz
Perpignan	Nicolas Mas	Jacques Brunel
Racing Métro	Lionel Nallet	Pierre Berbizier
Stade Français	Rodrigo Roncero	Jacques Delmas Didier Faugeron
Toulon	Joe van Niekerk	Philippe Saint-André
Toulouse	Thierry Dusautoir	Guy Novès

Competition format

Each club played 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. This season introduced a new format for the knockout stage: the top two teams qualify directly to the semifinals, while teams ranked from third to sixth qualify for a quarterfinal held at the homeground of the higher-ranked team. The semifinals are then held at neutral sites, with the final being played at the Stade de France. This replaced the classical format consisting of semifinals between the top four teams held at neutral sites.

Going into the season, the top six clubs were guaranteed of berths in the 2010–11 Heineken Cup. The winners of the 2009–10 Heineken Cup and European Challenge Cup are assured of berths in the 2010–11 Heineken Cup regardless of their league standing. This means that if a club finishes in the top six and wins one of the European competitions, the seventh-place team will gain a Heineken Cup berth. However, if French clubs win both competitions, only five clubs will qualify for the 2010–11 Heineken Cup via their league position because France is capped at seven Heineken Cup places. France can also secure a seventh berth if clubs from England's Guinness Premiership, also capped at seven Heineken Cup places, win both Cup competitions, and the top club in the European Rugby Club Rankings among those not already qualified for the Heineken Cup is from the Top 14. As it turned out, France earned a seventh berth when Toulouse won the Heineken Cup; because Toulouse had finished fourth on the regular-season table, the extra berth went to seventh-place Biarritz, who were also their opponent in the Heineken Cup final.

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 used 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 made it impossible for either team to earn a bonus point in a drawn match. The LNR chose to continue with this system for subsequent seasons.

France's bonus point system operated 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).

Table

1. ^ Perpignan finished first on the ladder, ahead of Toulon, based on a 5–4 edge in head-to-head competition points.
2. It was possible that the sixth-place team on the table would not qualify for the Heineken Cup. However, it would occur only if French teams won both the Heineken Cup and Amlin Challenge Cup, and both of these teams finished outside the top six on the league table. This did not happen in 2009–10 because only one of the European cups was won by a French team (the Heineken Cup by Toulouse). Conversely, if the only French team to win a European trophy finished in the top six, or if both European trophy winners finished in the top six, the seventh-place finisher would receive a Heineken Cup berth. Since Toulouse finished fourth, Biarritz claimed the extra French berth.
3. ^ Stade Français finished eighth on the ladder, ahead of Brive, based on a 5–4 edge in head-to-head competition points.
4. ^ Normally, the bottom two teams are relegated. However, on 1 April, the LNR's financial watchdog, DNACG, called Bourgoin, Montauban, and Stade Français for a financial review. No action was taken against Bourgoin or Stade Français, but DNACG announced that Montauban would be relegated because the club could not assure that they could clear their €1.7 million financial shortfall, which reportedly stemmed from a loan the club took out to improve their ground, Stade Sapiac. Montauban could have appealed at the next DNACG meeting on 4 May, but the club wound up filing for bankruptcy on 26 April. The bankruptcy filing confirmed their relegation from the Top 14. They could potentially have been relegated to Fédérale 3, the fifth level of the French rugby pyramid, but ultimately were relegated to the third-level Fédérale 1. These developments meant that Bayonne, who finished second from bottom, escaped the drop.

Fixtures & Results

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

• Postponed after six Castres players were diagnosed with H1N1 flu. Game rescheduled to 16 September 2009.

Round 4

• Game postponed due to the H1N1 outbreak in the Castres side. Game to be rescheduled for 29 September 2009.

Round 5

Round 6

Round 3 (rescheduled game)

• Game rescheduled from 29 August 2009.

Round 7

Round 8

Round 4 (rescheduled game)

• Game rescheduled from 2 September 2009.

Round 9

Round 10

Round 11

Round 12

• Postponed due to unplayable pitch. Game rescheduled to 2 December 2009.

Round 13

Round 14

• Game postponed after Perpignan reported that seven of their traveling party (including both players and coaches) were diagnosed with H1N1 flu. Game to be rescheduled for 5 February 2010.

Round 12 (rescheduled game)

• Game rescheduled from 5 November 2009.

Round 15

Round 16

Round 17

Round 18

• Postponed due to unplayable conditions. Game rescheduled to 27 February 2010.

Round 19

Round 14 (rescheduled game)

• Game rescheduled from 28 November 2009.

Round 20

Round 18 (rescheduled game)

• Game rescheduled from 9 January 2010.

Round 21

Round 22

Round 23

Round 24

Round 25

Round 26

Playoffs

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

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

FB 15 Jérôme Porical RW 14 Christophe Manas OC 13 David Marty IC 12 Maxime Mermoz LW 11 Adrien Planté FH 10 Gavin Hume  53' SH 9 Nicolas Durand  59' N8 8 Henry Tuilagi  45'  52'  56' OF 7 Jean-Pierre Pérez  52' BF 6 Ovidiu Tonița RL 5 Robins Tchale-Watchou  69' LL 4 Olivier Olibeau TP 3 Nicolas Mas (c)  73' HK 2 Guilhem Guirado  54' LP 1 Perry Freshwater  63' Replacements: HK 16 Marius Țincu  54' PR 17 Jérôme Schuster  63' LK 18 Guillaume Vilaceca  56' FL 19 Grégory Le Corvec  45' SH 20 David Mélé  59' CE 21 Jean-Philippe Grandclaude  69' FH 22 Nicolas Laharrague  53' PR 23 Kisi Pulu  73' Coach: Jacques Brunel

FB 15 Anthony Floch RW 14 Napolioni Nalaga OC 13 Aurélien Rougerie (c) IC 12 Marius Joubert LW 11 Julien Malzieu FH 10 Brock James SH 9 Morgan Parra N8 8 Elvis Vermeulen OF 7 Alexandre Lapandry  59' BF 6 Julien Bonnaire RL 5 Thibaut Privat  52' LL 4 Jamie Cudmore TP 3 Martín Scelzo  43'  72' HK 2 Mario Ledesma  70' LP 1 Thomas Domingo Replacements: HK 16 Benoît Cabello  70' PR 17 Vincent Debaty LK 18 Julien Pierre  52' FL 19 Alexandre Audebert  59' SH 20 Kevin Senio FH 21 Tasesa Lavea CE 22 Gonzalo Canale PR 23 Davit Zirakashvili  43'  72' Coach: Vern Cotter

Leading scorers

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

Top points scorers Rank Player Club Points 1 Romain Teulet Castres 263 2 Jonny Wilkinson Toulon 230 3 Brock James Clermont 225 4 Jonathan Wisniewski Racing Métro 183 5 Jérôme Porical Perpignan 181 6 Federico Todeschini Montpellier 167 7 Cédric Rosalen Montauban 166 8 Lionel Beauxis Stade Français 159 9 Benjamin Boyet Bourgoin 159 10 Dimitri Yachvili Biarritz 150

Top try scorers Rank Player Club Tries 1 Sam Gerber Bayonne 9 2 Napolioni Nalaga Clermont 8 3 Vincent Clerc Toulouse 7 Benjamin Fall Bayonne 7 Anthony Floch Clermont 7 Mark Gasnier Stade Français 7 Takudzwa Ngwenya Biarritz 7 François Trinh Duc Montpellier 7 4 Sireli Bobo Racing Métro 6 Chris Masoe Castres 6 Jean-Baptiste Peyras-Loustalet Bayonne 6 Ollie Phillips Stade Français 6 Jérôme Porical Perpignan 6 Farid Sid Perpignan 6 Iosefa Tekori Castres 6

Awards

Player of the Month

Players were selected by fan vote from a three-player shortlist on the official LNR site, and the results are posted roughly in the middle of the following month.

Attendances

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

See also

• 2009–10 Heineken Cup
• 2009–10 Rugby Pro D2 season

Notes

1. Bayonne would also play one home game at the 32,076 capacity Estadio Anoeta in Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain.
2. Biarritz would also play two home games at the 32,076 capacity Estadio Anoeta in Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain.
3. Bourgon would also play one home game at the 20,088 capacity Stade des Alpes in Grenoble, and another at the 41,044 capacity Stade Gerland in Lyon.
4. Stade Français would also play five home games at the 81,338 capacity Stade de France as well as one home game at 20,000 capacity Stade Sébastien Charléty.
5. Toulon would also play two home games at the 67,394 capacity Stade Vélodrome in Marseille.
6. Capacity of Stade Mayol up to 13,800 from 13,700 the previous season.
7. Toulouse would also play three home games at the 35,575 capacity Stadium Municipal.
8. This was only the second Top 14 match to see both teams earn bonus points since France adopted its current bonus system in 2007–08.
9. The game was original rescheduled to 1 December 2009 but this was changed to the 2nd after it was noted that the original makeup date potentially violated LNR and French Rugby Federation (FFR) regulations requiring a minimum of 72 hours between matches.
10. Clermont's attendance figures include home quarter final playoff game.
11. Toulouse's attendance figures include home quarter final playoff game.

References

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3. "Sheridan may be out for 6 months". News in Brief. Scrum.com. 2009-10-26. Retrieved 2009-10-26.
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6. "Salagoïty:"Pas d'autre alternative"" (in French). L'Équipe. 7 November 2009. Archived from the original on 10 November 2009. Retrieved 8 November 2009.
7. "Michael Cheika : Directeur du Rugby" (Press release) (in French). Stade Français. 2010-03-19. Archived from the original on 22 March 2010. Retrieved 2010-03-19.
8. "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.
9. ^ "Article 330, Section 3.2. Points "terrain"" (PDF). Reglements de la Ligue Nationale de Rugby 2008/2009, Chapitre 2 : Règlement sportif du Championnat de France Professionnel (in French). Ligue Nationale de Rugby. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-02-17. Retrieved 2008-08-27.
10. ^ "Montauban face Top 14 ruin". Scrum.com. 2010-04-01. Retrieved 2010-04-01.
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31. ^ "RECORDS DE SPECTATEURS STADIUM". STADES ET SPECTATEURS. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
32. ^ "RECORDS DE SPECTATEURS STADE DE FRANCE". STADES ET SPECTATEURS. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
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34. ^ "Report de match : Biarritz Olympique / Racing-Metro 92" (Press release) (in French). Ligue Nationale de Rugby. 2009-11-27. Archived from the original on 2009-11-30. Retrieved 2009-11-28.
35. "TOP 14 Orange : Match reporte" (Press release) (in French). Ligue Nationale de Rugby. 2009-11-27. Archived from the original on 2003-02-12. Retrieved 2009-11-28.
36. "Report du match CS Bourgoin-Jallieu / Bayonne" (PDF) (Press release) (in French). Ligue Nationale de Rugby. 2010-01-08. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-02-29. Retrieved 2010-01-08.
37. "Top 14. Bourgoin barre Toulouse". La Dépêche. 18 April 2010.
38. "RECORDS DE SPECTATEURS STADE CHARLETY". STADES ET SPECTATEURS. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
39. "Clermont–Racing Métro 92, Top 14 (vendredi 7 mai 2010), Fiche Match" (in French). L'Équipe. 2010-05-07. Archived from the original on 11 May 2010. Retrieved 2010-05-08.
40. "Toulouse–Castres, Top 14 (samedi 8 mai 2010), Fiche Match" (in French). L'Équipe. 2010-05-08. Archived from the original on 11 May 2010. Retrieved 2010-05-08.
41. "Perpignan–Toulouse, Top 14 (vendredi 14 mai 2010), Fiche Match" (in French). L'Équipe. 2010-05-14. Archived from the original on 17 May 2010. Retrieved 2010-05-14.
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44. ^ "Top 14 : 2009/2010 - Statistiques - Rugby". It's Rugby. Retrieved 28 September 2018.

External links

• (in French) Ligue Nationale de Rugby – Official website
• Top 14 on Planetrugby.com

• Top 14 seasons
• 2009–10 in French rugby union leagues
• 2009–10 in European rugby union leagues