1996–97 French Rugby Union Championship

1996–97 French Rugby Union Championship
Countries France
ChampionsToulouse (14th title)
Runners-upBourgoin
RelegatedNîmes, Périgueux, PUC, Dijon

The 1996–97 French Rugby Union Championship was played by 20 teams

Stade Toulousain won their 14th title, beating Bourgoin in the final.

Preliminary round

The 20 team were divided in the preliminary phase in two pools of 10. The first eight team of each pool were admitted to "Round of 16". The last two were relegated in second division.

Pool 1

Pos Team Pts
1 Bourgoin 45
2 Agen 43
3 Toulouse 42
4 Dax 42
5 Castres 40
6 Biarritz 37
7 Grenoble 32
8 Béziers 30
9 Nîmes 25
10 Périgueux 24

Pool 2

Pos Team Pts
1 Brive 43
2 Montferrand 41
3 Perpignan 41
4 Pau 39
5 Bègles-Bordeaux 38
6 Narbonne 38
7 Toulon 38
8 Colomiers 36
9 Paris Université Club 24
10 Dijon 22

Last 16

may ‘97 Toulouse - Narbonne 24–22
may ‘97 Brive - Colomiers 31–36
may ‘97 Grenoble - Agen 27–27
may ‘97 Perpignan - Bordeaux-Begles 26–29
may ‘97 Bourgoin - Beziers 23–14
may ‘97 Pau - Castres 23–20
may ‘97 Montferrand - Toulon 12–6
may ‘97 Dax - Biarritz 22–18

Last 8

may ‘97 Toulouse - Colomiers 21–12
may ‘97 Agen - Bordeaux-Begles 22–18
may ‘97 Bourgoin - Pau 24–18
may ‘97 Montferrand - Dax 22–18

Semifinals

may ‘97 Toulouse - Agen 23–16
may ‘97 Bourgoin - Montferrand 21–17

Final

31 May 1997
Toulouse12 – 6Bourgoin
Pen: Deylaud (3)
Drop: Deylaud
Pen: Geany (2)
Parc des Princes, Paris
Referee: Daniel Gillet
FB 15 Stéphane Ougier
RW 14 Michel Marfaing
OC 13 Nicolas Martin  80+2'
IC 12 Thomas Castaignède
LW 11 David Berty
FH 10 Christophe Deylaud (c)
SH 9 Jérôme Cazalbou
N8 8 Sylvain Dispagne
OF 7 Régis Sonnes
BF 6 Didier Lacroix
RL 5 Franck Belot
LL 4 Hugues Miorin
TP 3 Jean-Louis Jordana  66'
HK 2 Patrick Soula
LP 1 Christian Califano
Substitutions:
HK 16 Philippe Capelleri
PR 17 Pascal Lasserre  66'
LK 18 David Couzinet
FL 19 Jean-Marie Bisaro
SH 20 Julien Tilloles
CE 21 Olivier Carbonneau  80+2'
FB 22 Xavier Garbajosa
Coach:
Guy Novès
FB 15 Nigel Geany
RW 14 Laurent Leflamand
OC 13 Alexandre Péclier
IC 12 Stéphane Glas  24'
LW 11 Ludovic Saunier
FH 10 Gilles Cassagne
SH 9 Dominique Mazille
N8 8 Pierre Raschi  72'
OF 7 Michel Malafosse
BF 6 Alexandre Chazalet
RL 5 Jean Daudé  59'
LL 4 Marc Cécillon (c)
TP 3 David Morgan  51'
HK 2 Jean-Pierre Sanchez
LP 1 Philippe Vessiller
Substitutions:
HK 16 Jean-François Martin-Culet
PR 17 Laurent Gomez  51'
LK 18 Frédéric Nibelle  59'
N8 19 Julien Frier  72'
SH 20 Nicolas Guilhot
CE 21 Pascal Fernandez  24'
WG 22 Laurent Belligoi
Coach:
Michel Couturas