2018–19 Top 14 season
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 2018–19 Top 14 competition was the 120th season of the French domestic rugby union club competition operated by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR). Two new teams from the 2017–18 Pro D2 season were promoted to Top 14 (Perpignan and Grenoble) in place of the two relegated teams, Oyonnax and Brive.
2018–19 Top 14 | |
---|---|
Countries | France |
Date | 25 August 2018 – 15 June 2019 |
Champions | Toulouse (20th title) |
Runners-up | Clermont |
Relegated | Perpignan, Grenoble |
Matches played | 187 |
Attendance | 2,734,738 (average 14,624 per match) |
Highest attendance | 79,786 (play-offs) Toulouse v Clermont 15 June 2019 43,089 (league) Toulon v Toulouse 6 April 2019 |
Lowest attendance | 6,100 Stade Français v Agen 13 April 2019 |
Top point scorer | Ihaia West (La Rochelle) 257 points |
Top try scorer | Virimi Vakatawa (Racing) 13 tries |
Official website | |
www | |
On 27 April 2019, Perpignan were relegated after they lost at home to La Rochelle, condemning the newly promoted side to the drop with three games still to play.[1] It was a truly dreadful season for Perpignan and one of the worst ever by a club in the history of the Top 14 - at one point it even looked like they might go through the whole season without a win but mercifully they finally achieved a victory on 16 February 2019 against Montpellier. They will be joined in 2018–19 Rugby Pro D2 by Grenoble, who lost the relegation playoff game, 22-28, to Brive.[2] Brive and Rugby Pro D2 champions, Bayonne, will play in the 2019–20 Top 14.[3]
The Top 14 final was contested between the top two teams in the league stage – Toulouse (1st) and Clermont (2nd) – who both won their semi-finals with relative ease. In the end it was Toulouse who triumphed at the Stade de France, seeing out a 24-18 victory to win its 20th title and the clubs first since 2012.[4] It was a well deserved victory for Le Stade, who were head and shoulders the best team in the league, finishing 15 points clear of Clermont and beating them twice out of three meetings (the other result was a draw). Despite missing out on the title, it was a still excellent season for Clermont, who massively improved on 2017-18 when they finished 9th, and also won the 2018–19 European Rugby Challenge Cup.
In terms of attendances, the Top 14 once again proved to be the most popular rugby union league in the world, with over 2.7 million supporters watching games that season. This was an average of 14,624 per game, slightly higher than the second best supported league - the 2018–19 English Premiership - which had an average of 14,507.