2020–21 Top 14 season

The 2020–21 Top 14 competition will be the 122nd French domestic rugby union club competition operated by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR). After play was suspended following the 17th Matchday of the 2019–20 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic in France, the season was officially cancelled without any winner or promotion/relegation on 6 May.[1]

2020–21 Top 14
Countries France
Date4 September 2020 – 26 June 2021
Official website
www.lnr.fr/rugby-top-14

Teams

Number of teams by regions
Teams Region or country Team(s)
6  Nouvelle-AquitaineAgen, Bayonne, Bordeaux Bègles, Brive, La Rochelle, Pau
3  OccitanieCastres, Montpellier, Toulouse
2  Auvergne-Rhône-AlpesClermont, Lyon
 Île-de-FranceRacing, Stade Français
1  Provence-Alpes-Côte d'AzurToulon

Competition 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 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,[2] 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.[3]

France's bonus point system operates as follows:[3]

  • 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.

Table
2020–21 Top 14 Table
Club Played Won Drawn Lost Points For Points Against Points Diff. Tries For Tries Against Try Bonus Losing Bonus Points
1Agen000000000000
2Bayonne000000000000
3Bordeaux Bègles000000000000
4Brive000000000000
5Castres000000000000
6Clermont000000000000
7La Rochelle000000000000
8Lyon000000000000
9Montpellier000000000000
10Pau000000000000
11Racing000000000000
12Stade Français000000000000
13Toulon000000000000
14Toulouse000000000000

If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:

  1. Competition points earned in head-to-head matches
  2. Points difference in head-to-head matches
  3. Try differential in head-to-head matches
  4. Points difference in all matches
  5. Try differential in all matches
  6. Points scored in all matches
  7. Tries scored in all matches
  8. Fewer matches forfeited
  9. Classification in the previous Top 14 season
Green background (rows 1 and 2) receive semi-final play-off places and receive berths in the 2021–22 European Rugby Champions Cup.
Blue background (rows 3 to 6) receive quarter-final play-off places, and receive berths in the Champions Cup.
Plain background indicates teams that earn a place in the 2021–22 European Rugby Challenge Cup.
Pink background (row 13) will qualify to the Relegation play-offs.
Red background (row 14) will automatically be relegated to Rugby Pro D2.
Final table — source:

Relegation

Starting from the 2017–18 season forward, only the 14th placed team will be automatically relegated to Pro D2. The 13th placed team will face the runner-up of the Pro D2 play-off, with the winner of that play-off taking up the final place in Top 14 for the following season.[4]

Fixtures & Results

Round 1
4 September 2020
20:45
Stade Français v Bordeaux Bègles
5 September 2020
15:15
La Rochelle v Toulon
5 September 2020
18:00
Brive v Bayonne
5 September 2020
18:00
Lyon v Racing
Matmut Stadium de Gerland
5 September 2020
18:00
Agen v Castres
5 September 2020
18:00
Montpellier v Pau
6 September 2020
21:00
Clermont v Toulouse

Positions by round

The table lists the positions of teams after each week of matches. In order to preserve chronological evolvements, any postponed matches are not included to the round at which they were originally scheduled, but added to the full round they were played immediately afterwards.

Leader, semi-final play-off places and receive berths in the 2021–22 European Rugby Champions Cup
Semi-final play-off places and receive berths in the 2021–22 European Rugby Champions Cup
Quarter-final play-off places, and receive berths in the Champions Cup.
Qualification to relegation play-off
Relegation to Rugby Pro D2
Source: Ligue Nationale de Rubgy

Results by round
Source:
W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss


See also

Notes
  1. In recent years, Bordeaux Bègles has taken occasional home matches to Matmut Atlantique.
  2. In recent years, Toulon has taken occasional home matches to Stade Vélodrome in Marseille and Allianz Riviera in Nice.
  3. Toulouse often takes high-demand home matches to the city's largest sporting venue, Stadium de Toulouse.

References
  1. "Top 14 - Pro D2 : les présidents d'accord pour ne pas attribuer de titre". L'Equipe. 6 May 2020.
  2. "French try out new bonus point system". Planet-rugby.com. 27 June 2007. Archived from the original on 29 September 2007. Retrieved 13 August 2007.
  3. "Article 330, Section 3.2. Points "terrain"" (PDF). Règlements de la Ligue Nationale de Rugby 2008/2009, Chapitre 2 : Règlement sportif du Championnat de France Professionnel (in French). LNR. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 February 2012. Retrieved 27 August 2008.
  4. Mortimer, Gavin (18 August 2016). "French rugby enjoys a popularity boom as it looks to the future". Rugby World. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
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