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2020–21 Top 14
Countries	France
Date	4 September 2020 – 25 June 2021
Champions	Toulouse (21st title)
Runners-up	La Rochelle
Relegated	Agen Bayonne
Official website
www.lnr.fr/rugby-top-14
← 2019–202021–22 →

The 2020–21 Top 14 competition is 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 2020. Of the 2020–21 season, some last round matches were rescheduled for 16/17 January 2021, with the playoffs and final taking place in June 2021.

Teams

Number of teams by region

Teams	Region or country	Team(s)
6	Nouvelle-Aquitaine	Agen, Bayonne, Bordeaux Bègles, Brive, La Rochelle, Pau
3	Occitanie	Castres, Montpellier, Toulouse
2	Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes	Clermont, Lyon
	Île-de-France	Racing, Stade Français
1	Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur	Toulon

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, 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.

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

Table

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.

Fixtures and results

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Round 7

Round 8

Round 9

Round 1 rescheduled match

Round 7 rescheduled match

Round 3 rescheduled match

Round 10

Round 11

Round 4 rescheduled match

Round 12

Round 13

Round 7 rescheduled match

Round 14

Round 4 rescheduled match

Round 13 rescheduled match

Round 3 rescheduled match

Round 5 rescheduled match

Round 19

Round 9 rescheduled match

Round 8 rescheduled match

Round 14 rescheduled matches

Round 12 rescheduled match

Relegation playoff

The team finishing in 13th place faces the runner-up of the Pro D2, with the winner of this match playing in the 2021–22 Top 14 and the loser in the 2021–22 Pro D2.

Biarritz	6–6	Bayonne
Pen: Bosch (1/2) 32' Hart (1/3) 83'	Report	Pen: Lafage (1/1) 52' Germain (1/2) 94'
	Penalties
Hart Y Bosch Y Barry Y Couilloud Y Saili Y Armitage Y	6–5	Y Germain Y Ordas Y Rouet Y Costossèque Y Muscarditz N Luc

Playoffs

Semi-final Qualifiers

Semi-finals

Final

FB 15 Cheslin Kolbe RW 14 Juan Cruz Mallía OC 13 Santiago Chocobares IC 12 Pita Ahki LW 11 Matthis Lebel  74' FH 10 Thomas Ramos SH 9 Antoine Dupont  77' N8 8 Selevasio Tolofua  52' OF 7 François Cros BF 6 Rynhardt Elstadt RL 5 Richie Arnold  59' LL 4 Rory Arnold  67' TP 3 Charlie Faumuina  62' HK 2 Julien Marchand (c)  57' LP 1 Cyril Baille  62' Substitutions: HK 16 Peato Mauvaka  57' PR 17 Rodrigue Neti  62' LK 18 Joe Tekori  59' LK 19 Thibaud Flament  67' BR 20 Jerome Kaino  52' SH 21 Alexi Balès  77' FB 22 Maxime Médard  74' PR 23 Dorian Aldegheri  62' Coach: Ugo Mola

FB 15 Brice Dulin  22' RW 14 Dillyn Leyds OC 13 Raymond Rhule IC 12 Geoffrey Doumayrou LW 11 Arthur Retière FH 10 Ihaia West  64' SH 9 Tawera Kerr-Barlow  74' N8 8 Grégory Alldritt  47' OF 7 Kevin Gourdon BF 6 Wiaan Liebenberg RL 5 Will Skelton LL 4 Romain Sazy (c)  58' TP 3 Uini Atonio  67' HK 2 Facundo Bosch  67' LP 1 Reda Wardi  61' Substitutions: HK 16 Samuel Lagrange  67' PR 17 Dany Priso  61' LK 18 Thomas Lavault  58' BR 19 Victor Vito  47' SH 20 Jules Le Bail  74' FH 21 Jules Plisson  64' CE 22 Jules Favre  22' PR 23 Arthur Joly  67' Coach: Jono Gibbes Ronan O'Gara

Leading scorers

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.

Top points scorers As of 27 March 2021 Rank Player Club Games Points 1 Antoine Hastoy Pau 19 262 2 Camille Lopez Clermont 17 247 3 Benjamin Urdapilleta Castres 18 222 4 Joris Segonds Stade Français 20 213 5 Gaëtan Germain Bayonne 15 197 6 Maxime Machenaud Racing 17 157 7 Matthieu Jalibert Bordeaux Bègles 10 147 8 Enzo Hervé Brive 11 145 9 Ihaia West La Rochelle 14 136 10 Louis Carbonel Toulon 9 132

Top try scorers As of 27 March 2021 Rank Player Club Games Tries 1 Matthis Lebel Toulouse 15 11 2 Noa Nakaitaci Lyon 14 8 3 Pierre Bourgarit La Rochelle 12 8 4 Filipo Nakosi Castres 16 7 5 Lester Etien Stade Français 17 7 6 Aymeric Luc Bayonne 15 7 7 Sekou Macalou Stade Français 8 7 8 Fritz Lee Clermont 16 6 9 Arthur Retière La Rochelle 12 6 10 Josua Tuisova Lyon 12 6 11 Alivereti Raka Clermont 9 6 12 Grégory Alldritt La Rochelle 8 6

See also

• 2020–21 Rugby Pro D2 season

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.
5. "Classement marqueurs Top 14 2020–21". L'Équipe. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
6. "RUGBY TOP 14 : STATISTIQUES DÉTAILLÉES SAISON 2020-2021". Ligue Nationale Rugby. Retrieved 27 March 2021.

• 2020–21 Top 14 season
• Top 14 seasons
• 2020–21 in French rugby union leagues