2008-09 Top 14 season - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The 2008–09 Top 14 Competition was a French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

domestic rugby union

Rugby union

Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

club competition operated by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR). It ran from late August 2008 through the final at Stade de France

Stade de France

The Stade de France is the national stadium of France, situated just north of Paris in the commune of Saint-Denis. It has an all-seater capacity of 80,000, making it the fifth largest stadium in Europe, and is used by both the France national football team and French rugby union team for...

on June 6, 2009, in which Perpignan

USA Perpignan

Union Sportive des Arlequins Perpignanais or Unió eSportiva Arlequins de Perpinyà , generally abbreviated as USAP in both languages, is a French rugby union club that plays in the city of Perpignan in Pyrénées-Orientales. The club currently competes in the Top 14, the top level of the French...

lifted the Bouclier de Brennus

Bouclier de Brennus

The Bouclier de Brennus, or Brennus Shield in English, is a trophy awarded to the winners of the French rugby union domestic league.The shield was not named, as it is often believed, after the famous Gallic warrior Brennus but rather artist Charles Brennus, co-founder of the USFSA, the original...

with a 22–13 win over Clermont

ASM Clermont Auvergne

Association Sportive Montferrandaise Clermont Auvergne are a French rugby union club from Clermont-Ferrand in Auvergne that currently competes in Top 14, the top level of the French league system, ASMCA are the were the 2010 France Top 14 Champions. It is the rugby section of the multi-sport club...

.

This year's edition of the Top 14 welcomed Toulon

RC Toulonnais

RC Toulonnais is a French professional rugby union club based in Toulon in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur...

, winners of the 2008

2007-08 Rugby Pro D2 season

The 2007-08 Rugby Pro D2 was a French rugby union club competition. The season ran alongside the 2007-08 Top 14 competition, which is the highest club competition. Both competitions were operated by the Ligue nationale de rugby ....

title in the second-level Pro D2

Rugby Pro D2

Rugby Pro D2, also known as Pro D2 is the second level of domestic club rugby union in France, below the first division, Top 14. The competition was introduced in 2000. There is relegation and promotion between both the Top 14 and Fédérale 1, the third-level competition...

, and Mont-de-Marsan

Stade Montois

Stade Montois is a French rugby union team that plays in the 2011–12 season in Rugby Pro D2, the second level of the country's professional league system.They were founded in 1908 and play in yellow and black...

, victors in the 2008 promotion playoffs between the second- through fifth-place teams in Pro D2. They took the place of Auch

FC Auch Gers

Football Club Auch Gers is a French rugby union club based in Auch in Midi-Pyrénées currently playing in Rugby Pro D2, the second tier of the country's professional league system. In recent years, they have bounced between the first-level Top 14 and Pro D2...

and Albi

SC Albi

Sporting Club Albigeois is a professional French rugby union club playing the second-level Rugby Pro D2. During the past years it went back and forth between Top 14, the highest level of the French league system and the second-level Rugby Pro D2. Their last time in the Top 14 was for 2009–10 after...

, relegated at the end of the 2007–08 Top 14

2007-08 Top 14 season

The 2007-08 Top 14 Competition was a French domestic rugby union club competition, operated by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby . Because France hosted the 2007 Rugby World Cup, the competition did not begin at its normal time of August, but instead started on the last weekend in October 2007, one week...

. Auch, which had been promoted

Promotion and relegation

In many sports leagues around the world, promotion and relegation is a process that takes place at the end of each season. Through it, teams are transferred between divisions based on their performance that season...

to the Top 14 for 2007–08, finished bottom of the table and went down. The other newly promoted team in 2007–08, Dax

US Dax

Union Sportive Dacquoise, also known as US Dax, is a French rugby union club currently playing in Rugby Pro D2, the second level of the French league system....

, finished second-from-bottom, but were reprieved when French sporting authorities forcibly relegated 12th-place Albi to Pro D2 due to financial issues.

Season synopsis

While the four playoff teams—Perpignan, Toulouse

Stade Toulousain

Stade Toulousain, also referred to as Toulouse, is a French rugby union club from Toulouse in Midi-Pyrénées. Toulouse is one of the finest rugby clubs in Europe, having won the Heineken Cup four times – in 1996, 2003, 2005 and 2010. They were also runners-up in 2004 and 2008 against London Wasps...

, Clermont, and Stade Français—separated themselves from the pack fairly early in the season, it was Toulouse who were the form team in the first half of the season; they had a Top 14-record streak of 11 wins from Round 5 through Round 15. However, Perpignan surged in the second half of the season, finishing level with Toulouse on the season log; the Catalans claimed the top seed on the first tiebreaker of head-to-head competition points. Biarritz used a late-season surge to claim fifth place, while the final Heineken Cup berth was ultimately decided in the final round, when Brive's draw with Bourgoin combined with Bayonne's

Aviron Bayonnais

Aviron Bayonnais is a French rugby union club from Bayonne in Pyrénées-Atlantiques that currently competes in the top level of the French league system, in the Top 14 competition...

win over Stade Français without a bonus point left Brive and Bayonne level on the log; Brive won on the second tiebreaker of head-to-head scoring.

At the other end of the ladder, Mont-de-Marsan were rarely competitive and finished bottom. The second relegation place finally fell on Dax, after Bourgoin

CS Bourgoin-Jallieu

CS Bourgoin-Jallieu is a French rugby union club currently competing in the second level of the French league system in the Pro D2. The club have been runners-up in the French championship and the Challenge Yves du Manoir competitions, and have won the Challenge Cup.Founded in 1906 as "Club...

, Castres

Castres Olympique

Castres Olympique is a French rugby union club located in the Midi-Pyrénées city of Castres and currently competing in the top level of the French league system.Founded in 1898, the club took its current name in 1906...

, and the highly ambitious Toulon spent time in relegation trouble.

For much of the season, Bourgoin faced another type of relegation trouble—financial. At the end of each season, all teams in both divisions of LNR must pass a financial audit conducted by DNACG (Direction nationale d'aide et de contrôle de gestion), LNR's financial arm, to be able to keep their professional licenses. The club were able to satisfy DNACG that they had sufficient financial guarantees to participate in Top 14 and were thus allowed to stay in the top flight.

Second division: 2008–09 Rugby Pro D2 season

Competition format

Each club plays 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. As in previous seasons, the top four clubs at the end of the home-and-away season advanced to a single-elimination playoff. The semifinals were held at neutral sites on May 29 and 30, with the final at Stade de France

Stade de France

on June 6.

Going into the season, the top six clubs were guaranteed of berths in the 2009–10 Heineken Cup

2009–10 Heineken Cup

The 2009–10 Heineken Cup was the 15th season of the Heineken Cup, the annual rugby union European club competition for clubs from the top six nations in European rugby...

, with the possibility of a seventh if a French club had advanced further in the 2008–09 Heineken Cup than any team from England

Guinness Premiership

The English Premiership, also currently known as the Aviva Premiership because of the league's sponsorship by Aviva, is a professional league competition for rugby union football clubs in the top division of the English rugby system. There are twelve clubs in the Premiership...

or Italy

Super 10 (Italian premiership)

The withdrawal of Viadana and Benetton Treviso from the league has been compounded by club mergers. Rugby Viadana, Gran Parma and Colorno have merged to form GranDucato Rugby. Overmach Parma and Noceto have merged to form Crociati, both new clubs to be based in Parma. These changes created 2...

. However, the seventh French berth did not materialize this season, as the only Top 14 club to make the knockout stage, Toulouse, were eliminated in the quarterfinals, while England's Leicester Tigers

Leicester Tigers

Leicester Tigers is an English rugby union club that plays in the Aviva Premiership.Leicester are the most successful English club since the introduction of league rugby in 1987, a record 9 times English champions - 3 more than either Bath or Wasps, the last of which was in 2010...

reached the final

2009 Heineken Cup Final

The 2009 Heineken Cup Final was the final match of the 2008–09 Heineken Cup, the 14th season of Europe's top club rugby union competition. The match was played on 23 May 2009 at Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh; this was the second time that the Heineken Cup final had been held at Murrayfield after...

(where they lost to Irish

Irish Rugby Football Union

The Irish Rugby Football Union is the body managing rugby union in Ireland. The IRFU has its head office at 10/12 Lansdowne Road and home ground at Aviva Stadium, where Irish rugby union international matches are played...

side Leinster

Leinster Rugby

Leinster Rugby, usually referred to simply as Leinster, is an Irish professional rugby union team based in Dublin, representing the Irish province of Leinster, that competes in the RaboDirect Pro 12 and also competes in the Heineken Cup...

). The sixth-place team would have been relegated to the 2009–10 European Challenge Cup

2009–10 European Challenge Cup

The 2009–10 Amlin Challenge Cup was the 14th season of the European Challenge Cup, the annual rugby union European club competition for clubs from six nations in European rugby. It started on 8 October 2009 at Sixways Stadium in Worcester with Worcester Warriors hosting Montpellier, and ended with...

if 11th-place Bourgoin had won the 2008–09 Challenge Cup final on 22 May; however, Bourgoin were defeated by English side Northampton Saints

Northampton Saints

Northampton Saints are a professional rugby union club from Northampton, England. The Northampton Saints were formed in 1880. They play in green, black and gold colours. They play their home games at Franklin's Gardens, which has a capacity of 13,591....

.

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 uses a slightly different bonus points system

Rugby union bonus points system

The Rugby union bonus points system is a method of deciding table points from a rugby union match. It was implemented in order to encourage attacking play throughout a match, to discourage repetitive goal-kicking, and to reward teams for "coming close" in losing efforts...

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 makes it impossible for either team to earn a bonus point in a drawn match. LNR chose to continue with this system for 2008-09.

France's bonus point system operates 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

Key to colors
	League champions; receive a place in the 2009-10 Heineken Cup Heineken Cup The Heineken Cup is one of two annual rugby union competitions organised by European Rugby Cup involving leading club, regional and provincial teams from the six International Rugby Board countries in Europe whose national teams compete in the Six Nations Championship: England, France, Ireland,... .
	Remaining participants in playoffs also receive places in the 2009-10 Heineken Cup Heineken Cup The Heineken Cup is one of two annual rugby union competitions organised by European Rugby Cup involving leading club, regional and provincial teams from the six International Rugby Board countries in Europe whose national teams compete in the Six Nations Championship: England, France, Ireland,... .
	Fifth and sixth places also receive automatic Heineken Cup berths.
	Bottom two teams provisionally relegated to Rugby Pro D2 Rugby Pro D2 Rugby Pro D2, also known as Pro D2 is the second level of domestic club rugby union in France, below the first division, Top 14. The competition was introduced in 2000. There is relegation and promotion between both the Top 14 and Fédérale 1, the third-level competition... .

	Club	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points for	Points against	Bonus points	Points
2008-09 Top 14 Table
1	Perpignan USA Perpignan Union Sportive des Arlequins Perpignanais or Unió eSportiva Arlequins de Perpinyà , generally abbreviated as USAP in both languages, is a French rugby union club that plays in the city of Perpignan in Pyrénées-Orientales. The club currently competes in the Top 14, the top level of the French...	26	20	1	5	615	374	10	92
2	Toulouse Stade Toulousain Stade Toulousain, also referred to as Toulouse, is a French rugby union club from Toulouse in Midi-Pyrénées. Toulouse is one of the finest rugby clubs in Europe, having won the Heineken Cup four times – in 1996, 2003, 2005 and 2010. They were also runners-up in 2004 and 2008 against London Wasps...	26	21	0	5	594	324	8	92
3	Clermont ASM Clermont Auvergne Association Sportive Montferrandaise Clermont Auvergne are a French rugby union club from Clermont-Ferrand in Auvergne that currently competes in Top 14, the top level of the French league system, ASMCA are the were the 2010 France Top 14 Champions. It is the rugby section of the multi-sport club...	26	16	1	9	752	367	17	83
4	Stade Français	26	16	1	9	622	450	12	78
5	Biarritz Biarritz Olympique Biarritz Olympique Pays Basque is a French professional rugby union team based in the Basque city of Biarritz, Aquitaine which competes in the Top 14 and the Heineken Cup...	26	15	0	11	516	398	11	71
6	Brive CA Brive Club Athlétique Brive Corrèze Limousin is a French rugby union team founded in 1910 and based in Brive-la-Gaillarde in the département of Corrèze of the Limousin région . They wear black and white and play in the Stade Amédée-Domenech .- History :The club was created on 15 March 1910 established on...	26	13	4	9	481	481	6	66
7	Bayonne Aviron Bayonnais Aviron Bayonnais is a French rugby union club from Bayonne in Pyrénées-Atlantiques that currently competes in the top level of the French league system, in the Top 14 competition...	26	14	2	10	475	481	6	66
8	Montauban US Montauban US Montauban were a French rugby union club, which competed in the Top 14 competition between 2007 and 2010, after being promoted from Rugby Pro D2 for the 2006-07 season...	26	10	2	14	485	572	9	53
9	Toulon RC Toulonnais RC Toulonnais is a French professional rugby union club based in Toulon in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur...	26	9	2	15	409	488	11	51
10	Montpellier Montpellier Hérault RC Montpellier Hérault Rugby Club is a professional French rugby union, based in Montpellier the capital of Languedoc-Roussillon. The club competes in the top level of the French league system, in the Top 14. They originally played at Stade Sabathé but moved to the Stade Yves-du-Manoir in 2007...	26	11	0	15	408	568	6	50
11	Bourgoin CS Bourgoin-Jallieu CS Bourgoin-Jallieu is a French rugby union club currently competing in the second level of the French league system in the Pro D2. The club have been runners-up in the French championship and the Challenge Yves du Manoir competitions, and have won the Challenge Cup.Founded in 1906 as "Club...	26	8	2	16	451	599	10	46
12	Castres Castres Olympique Castres Olympique is a French rugby union club located in the Midi-Pyrénées city of Castres and currently competing in the top level of the French league system.Founded in 1898, the club took its current name in 1906...	26	7	3	16	473	537	10	44
13	Dax US Dax Union Sportive Dacquoise, also known as US Dax, is a French rugby union club currently playing in Rugby Pro D2, the second level of the French league system....	26	7	1	18	375	632	7	37
14	Mont-de-Marsan Stade Montois Stade Montois is a French rugby union team that plays in the 2011–12 season in Rugby Pro D2, the second level of the country's professional league system.They were founded in 1908 and play in yellow and black...	26	5	1	20	325	730	7	29

If clubs are level on competition points, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:

Head-to-head competition points earned.
Points differential in head-to-head matches.
Difference between tries scored and tries conceded in head-to-head matches.
Points differential in all matches.
Difference between tries scored and tries conceded in all matches.
Number of points scored in all matches.
Number of tries scored in all matches.
Number of forfeited matches
Final classification in the last Top 14 regular season
2007-08 Top 14 season
The 2007-08 Top 14 Competition was a French domestic rugby union club competition, operated by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby . Because France hosted the 2007 Rugby World Cup, the competition did not begin at its normal time of August, but instead started on the last weekend in October 2007, one week...

.
Fewer red cards issued during the season.

Tiebreakers were needed to determine two placements:

Perpignan finished first on the ladder, ahead of Toulouse, based on a 5–4 edge in head-to-head competition points; Toulouse scored a regular win against Perpignan in Round 6, while Perpignan picked up a bonus-point win in the return match in Round 19.
Brive edged out Bayonne for sixth place, and ultimately the final Heineken Cup berth. In Round 8, Bayonne defeated Brive 14–9 at home. In the return match in Round 21, Brive won 13–6 at home. Since both losing teams picked up bonus points, the tiebreaker went to head-to-head point differential, in which Brive had a two-point edge.

Schedule and results

From the official Top 14 site. Within each weekend, matches are listed in the following order:

By date.
If matches are held on the same day, by kickoff time.
Otherwise, in alphabetic order of home club.

All times CET

Central European Time

Central European Time , used in most parts of the European Union, is a standard time that is 1 hour ahead of Coordinated Universal Time . The time offset from UTC can be written as +01:00...

Rounds 1 to 5

Round 1

26 August, 19:00 — Biarritz 29 - 22 (1 BP) Bourgoin
26 August, 19:00 — Castres (1 BP) 26 - 27 Bayonne
26 August, 19:00 — Dax 9 - 31 (1 BP) Stade Français
26 August, 19:00 — Montauban (1 BP) 37 - 19 Mont-de-Marsan
26 August, 19:00 — Montpellier 16 - 11 (1 BP) Toulouse
26 August, 19:00 — Perpignan 34 - 18 Brive
26 August, 21:00 — Toulon 22 - 16 (1 BP) Clermont

Round 2

30 August, 14:30 — Bayonne 22 - 20 (1 BP) Montauban
30 August, 14:30 — Clermont (1 BP) 43 - 20 Montpellier
30 August, 14:30 — Stade Français 27 - 22 Mont-de-Marsan
30 August, 14:30 — Toulon 3 - 3 Brive
30 August, 14:30 — Toulouse 25 - 20 (1 BP) Dax
30 August, 16:45 — Biarritz 32 - 17 Castres
30 August, 20:30 — Bourgoin (1 BP) 16 - 22 Perpignan

Round 3

5 September, 20:30 — Bayonne 17 - 6 Clermont
6 September, 14:30 — Brive 16 - 16 Castres
6 September, 14:30 — Dax (1 BP) 6 - 9 Montpellier
6 September, 14:30 — Montauban 18 - 14 (1 BP) Bourgoin
6 September, 16:30 — Perpignan 11 - 26 Stade Français
6 September, 20:30 — Mont-de-Marsan 25 - 18 (1 BP) Toulon
7 September, 20:00 — Toulouse (1 BP) 20 - 6 Biarritz (at Stadium Municipal)

Round 4

12 September, 20:30 — Toulon (1 BP) 13 - 19 Stade Français
13 September, 14:30 — Bourgoin 18 - 6 Mont-de-Marsan
13 September, 14:30 — Castres 11 - 19 Dax
13 September, 14:30 — Montpellier (1 BP) 32 - 10 Montauban
13 September, 14:30 — Perpignan (1 BP) 38 - 10 Bayonne
13 September, 16:30 — Clermont 16 - 6 Toulouse
13 September, 20:30 — Biarritz 24 - 5 Brive

Round 5

19 September, 20:30 — Dax 30 - 18 Biarritz
20 September, 14:30 — Bayonne 19 - 15 (1 BP) Mont-de-Marsan
20 September, 14:30 — Castres 12 - 6 (1 BP) Clermont
20 September, 14:30 — Stade Français (1 BP) 37 - 16 Brive
20 September, 14:30 — Toulon 15 - 9 (1 BP) Bourgoin
20 September, 16:30 — Montauban 10 - 41 (1 BP) Toulouse
20 September, 20:30 — Montpellier (1 BP) 3 - 5 Perpignan

Rounds 6 to 10

Round 6

26 September, 20:30 — Bourgoin (1 BP) 25 - 32 Stade Français (at Stade des Alpes, Grenoble)
27 September, 14:30 — Brive (1 BP) 41 - 9 Dax
27 September, 14:30 — Clermont (1 BP) 32 - 6 Biarritz
27 September, 14:30 — Mont-de-Marsan (1 BP) 16 - 22 Montpellier
27 September, 14:30 — Montauban 24 - 23 (1 BP) Castres
27 September, 16:30 — Toulouse 30 - 20 Perpignan
27 September, 20:30 — Bayonne 19 - 15 (1 BP) Toulon

Round 7

3 October, 20:30 — Castres 10 - 28 Toulouse
4 October, 14:30 — Biarritz (1 BP) 46 - 3 Montpellier
4 October, 14:30 — Brive (1 BP) 53 - 11 Mont-de-Marsan
4 October, 14:30 — Perpignan 37 - 12 Toulon
4 October, 14:30 — Stade Français (1 BP) 34 - 16 Montauban
4 October, 16:30 — Bourgoin (1 BP) 23 - 30 Clermont
4 October, 20:30 — Dax 27 - 17 Bayonne

Round 8

24 October, 20:30 — Mont-de-Marsan 6 - 33 (1 BP) Biarritz
25 October, 14:30 — Bayonne 14 - 9 (1 BP) Brive
25 October, 14:30 — Clermont (1 BP) 25 - 30 (1 BP) Montauban
- This was the first Top 14 match to see both teams earn bonus points since LNR adopted its revised bonus points system in the 2007-08 season.
25 October, 14:30 — Montpellier (1 BP) 12 - 19 Bourgoin
25 October, 14:30 — Perpignan 17 - 6 Dax
25 October, 16:30 — Stade Français 13 - 26 Toulouse (at Stade de France)
25 October, 20:30 — Toulon (1 BP) 17 - 21 Castres

Round 9

31 October, 18:30 — Montauban (1 BP) 42 - 20 Toulon
1 November, 14:30 — Castres (1 BP) 28 - 31 Montpellier
1 November, 14:30 — Dax 32 - 10 Bourgoin
1 November, 14:30 — Mont-de-Marsan 7 - 31 (1 BP) Perpignan
1 November, 14:30 — Toulouse 21 - 15 (1 BP) Brive
1 November, 16:30 — Clermont 22 - 6 Stade Français
1 November, 20:30 — Biarritz (1 BP) 12 -14 Bayonne

Round 10

14 November, 20:30 — Montpellier 26 - 13 Stade Français
15 November, 14:30 — Bourgoin (1 BP) 9 - 13 Bayonne
15 November, 14:30 — Castres 26 - 3 Mont-de-Marsan
15 November, 14:30 — Dax 20 - 20 Montauban
15 November, 14:30 — Toulouse 19 - 18 (1 BP) Toulon
15 November, 16:30 — Brive 18 - 16 (1 BP) Clermont
15 November, 20:45 — Perpignan (1 BP) 27 - 12 Biarritz

Rounds 11 to 15

Round 11

21 November, 19:00 — Bourgoin (1 BP) 12 - 18 Toulouse
21 November, 21:00 — Stade Français 19 - 12 (1 BP) Castres
22 November, 14:30 — Bayonne (1 BP) 42 - 9 Montpellier
22 November, 14:30 — Brive 33 - 28 (1 BP) Montauban
22 November, 14:30 — Mont-de-Marsan 12 - 6 Dax
22 November, 14:30 — Toulon 10 - 5 (1 BP) Biarritz
22 November, 16:30 — Clermont 29 - 9 Perpignan

Round 12

28 November, 20:35 — Toulouse 32 - 11 Bayonne
29 November, 14:30 — Castres 9 - 23 Bourgoin
29 November, 14:30 — Mont-de-Marsan 12 - 11 (1 BP) Clermont
29 November, 14:30 — Montauban (1 BP) 6 - 9 Perpignan
29 November, 14:30 — Toulon (1 BP) 6 - 13 Dax
29 November, 16:30 — Biarritz 13 - 32 (1 BP) Stade Français
29 November, 20:45 — Montpellier 9 - 22 Brive

Round 13

19 December, 20:35 — Dax (1 BP) 16 - 20 Clermont
20 December, 14:30 — Brive 20 - 12 Bourgoin
20 December, 14:30 — Montpellier (1 BP) 33 - 8 Toulon
20 December, 14:30 — Perpignan 16 - 9 (1 BP) Castres
20 December, 14:30 — Toulouse (1 BP) 27 - 6 Mont-de-Marsan
20 December, 16:30 — Stade Français (1 BP) 35 - 8 Bayonne
20 December, 20:35 — Montauban 19 - 12 (1 BP) Biarritz

Round 14

2 January, 20:35 — Bayonne 13 - 13 Castres
3 January, 14:30 — Bourgoin 15 - 14 (1 BP) Biarritz
3 January, 14:30 — Mont-de-Marsan 16 - 13 (1 BP) Montauban
3 January, 14:30 — Clermont (1 BP) 32 - 5 Toulon
3 January, 14:30 — Stade Français (1 BP) 56 - 15 Dax
3 January, 16:30 — Toulouse (1 BP) 34 - 0 Montpellier
4 January, 20:45 — Brive (1 BP) 15 - 18 Perpignan

Round 15

9 January, 20:35 — Dax 9 - 25 Toulouse
- Toulouse win their 11th consecutive Top 14 match, breaking the previous record of 10 set last season by Clermont.
10 January, 14:30 — Castres (1 BP) 9 - 10 Biarritz
10 January, 14:30 — Mont-de-Marsan (1 BP) 6 - 13 Stade Français
10 January, 14:30 — Montauban 15 - 13 (1 BP) Bayonne
10 January, 14:30 — Perpignan (1 BP) 40 - 14 Bourgoin
10 January, 16:30 — Montpellier 3 - 30 (1 BP) Clermont
10 January, 20:35 — Brive 19 - 9 Toulon

Rounds 16 to 20

Round 16

30 January, 20:35 — Toulon (1 BP) 38 - 22 Mont-de-Marsan
31 January, 14:30 — Biarritz 17 - 13 (1 BP) Toulouse
- Toulouse's Top 14-record win streak of 11 ends.
31 January, 14:30 — Bourgoin 25 - 15 Montauban
31 January, 14:30 — Castres 11 - 11 Brive
31 January, 14:30 — Clermont (1 BP) 44 - 10 Bayonne
31 January, 14:30 — Montpellier 23 - 14 Dax
31 January, 16:30 — Stade Français 13 - 13 Perpignan (at Stade de France)

Round 17

20 February, 20:35 — Stade Français 22 - 12 Toulon
21 February, 14:30 — Brive 19 - 15 (1 BP) Biarritz
21 February, 14:30 — Dax 16 - 32 (1 BP) Castres
21 February, 14:30 — Mont-de-Marsan 16 - 16 Bourgoin
21 February, 14:30 — Montauban 27 - 19 Montpellier
21 February, 16:30 — Bayonne 19 - 12 (1 BP) Perpignan
22 February, 16:30 — Toulouse 20 - 13 (1 BP) Clermont

Round 18

27 February, 19:00 — Bourgoin 12 - 23 (1 BP) Toulon
28 February, 14:15 — Brive 26 - 11 Stade Français
28 February, 14:30 — Biarritz (1 BP) 44 - 13 Dax
28 February, 14:30 — Clermont (1 BP) 43 - 20 Castres
28 February, 14:30 — Mont-de-Marsan (1 BP) 30 - 37 Bayonne
28 February, 14:30 — Perpignan (1 BP) 50 - 13 Montpellier
28 February, 20:35 — Toulouse 9 - 6 (1 BP) Montauban

Round 19

6 March, 21:00 — Perpignan (1 BP) 32 - 8 Toulouse
7 March, 14:30 — Castres 31 - 19 Montauban
7 March, 14:30 — Dax (1 BP) 15 - 17 Brive
7 March, 14:30 — Montpellier (1 BP) 33 - 6 Mont-de-Marsan
7 March, 14:30 — Stade Français (1 BP) 53 - 3 Bourgoin
7 March, 16:30 — Biarritz 18 - 14 (1 BP) Clermont
7 March, 20:35 — Toulon 3 - 3 Bayonne

Round 20

13 March, 20:35 — Montauban 22 - 16 (1 BP) Stade Français
14 March, 14:15 — Toulouse 26 - 11 Castres
14 March, 14:30 — Bayonne 14 - 9 (1 BP) Dax
14 March, 14:30 — Clermont (1 BP) 57 - 23 Bourgoin
14 March, 14:30 — Mont-de-Marsan (1 BP) 16 - 18 Brive
14 March, 14:30 — Toulon (1 BP) 29 - 32 Perpignan
14 March, 20:35 — Montpellier 12 - 9 (1 BP) Biarritz

Rounds 21 to 26

Round 21

27 March, 20:35 — Castres 25 - 9 Toulon
28 March, 14:30 — Biarritz (1 BP) 37 - 7 Mont-de-Marsan
28 March, 14:30 — Bourgoin 22 - 3 Montpellier
28 March, 14:30 — Dax (1 BP) 13 - 16 Perpignan
28 March, 14:30 — Montauban 19 - 19 Clermont
28 March, 16:30 — Brive 13 - 6 (1 BP) Bayonne
29 March, 20:35 — Toulouse 15 - 11 (1 BP) Stade Français

Round 22

3 April, 20:35 — Bourgoin (1 BP) 43 - 6 Dax
4 April, 14:30 — Brive 10 - 42 (1 BP) Toulouse
4 April, 14:30 — Montpellier (1 BP) 21 - 23 Castres
4 April, 14:30 — Perpignan (1 BP) 44 - 3 Mont-de-Marsan
4 April, 14:30 — Toulon 33 - 20 Montauban
4 April, 16:30 — Stade Français (1 BP) 19 - 21 Clermont (at Stade de France)
4 April, 20:35 — Bayonne (1 BP) 15 - 19 Biarritz

Round 23

17 April, 20:35 — Biarritz 12 - 10 Perpignan (1 BP)
18 April, 14:30 — Bayonne (1 BP) 61 - 10 Bourgoin
18 April, 14:30 — Clermont (1 BP) 52 - 7 Brive
18 April, 14:30 — Mont-de-Marsan 21 - 15 Castres (1 BP)
18 April, 14:30 — Stade Français 24 - 15 Montpellier
18 April, 16:30 — Toulon 14 - 6 Toulouse (at Stade Vélodrome, Marseille)
18 April, 20:35 — Montauban (1 BP) 15 - 20 Dax

Round 24

24 April, 20:35 — Castres (1 BP) 16 - 21 Stade Français
25 April, 14:30 — Biarritz 19 - 12 (1 BP) Toulon
25 April, 14:30 — Montauban 15 - 10 (1 BP) Brive
25 April, 14:30 — Montpellier 20 - 11 Bayonne
25 April, 14:30 — Toulouse 13 - 6 (1 BP) Bourgoin
25 April, 16:30 — Perpignan 20 - 16 (1 BP) Clermont
25 April, 20:35 — Dax 12 - 8 (1 BP) Mont-de-Marsan

Round 25

8 May, 20:35 — Dax 12 - 22 Toulon
9 May, 14:30 — Bourgoin 31 - 23 Castres
9 May, 14:30 — Brive 28 - 18 Montpellier
9 May, 14:30 — Clermont (1 BP) 66 - 3 Mont-de-Marsan
9 May, 14:30 — Perpignan (1 BP) 19 - 9 Montauban
9 May, 16:30 — Bayonne (1 BP) 9 - 12 Toulouse
10 May, 20:45 — Stade Français (1 BP) 12 - 16 Biarritz

Round 26

16 May, 16:30 — Bayonne 31 - 27 (1 BP) Stade Français
16 May, 16:30 — Biarritz (1 BP) 38 - 10 Montauban
16 May, 16:30 — Bourgoin 19 - 19 Brive
16 May, 16:30 — Castres (1 BP) 26 - 32 Perpignan
16 May, 16:30 — Clermont (1 BP) 73 - 3 Dax
16 May, 16:30 — Mont-de-Marsan 8 - 60 (1 BP) Toulouse
16 May, 16:30 — Toulon (1 BP) 23 - 3 Montpellier

Semi-finals

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Final

External links

Ligue Nationale de Rugby - Official website

Top 14 on Planetrugby.com
Top 14 - 2008/2009 on itsrugby.co.uk

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