1998–99 French Rugby Union Championship

1998–99 French Rugby Union Championship
1998–99 French Rugby Union Championship
Countries	France
Champions	Toulouse (15th title)
Runners-up	Montferrand
Relegated	Nice, Béziers
	← 1998–99 2000–01 →

The 1998–99 French Rugby Union Championship was played by 24 teams divided in the preliminary phase into three pools of 8. The first five teams from each pool and the best 6th placed were admitted to second round. The other played a relegation tournament divided in two pools.

Toulouse won the title, beating Montferrand in the final (that lose for 6th time the final).

First round

Pool 1

Pos	Team	Points
1	Stade Français	34
2	Biarritz	34
3	Narbonne	32
4	Castres	32
5	Bourgoin	29
6	Toulon	28
7	Aurillac	21
8	Nîmes	14

Pool 2

Pos	Team	Points
1	Perpignan	34
2	Montferrand	33
3	Agen	32
4	Dax	31
5	Bègles-Bordeaux	29
6	Béziers	28
7	Auch	20
8	Nice	17

Pool 3

Pos	Team	Points
1	Toulouse	38
2	Brive	36
3	Pau	33
4	Grenoble	30
5	Colomiers	26
6	Périgueux	23
7	Racing Paris	20
8	La Rochelle	18

Béziers and Toulon had both 28 points. The "best 6th" was Toulon due to having less "red Cards" during the season.

Second round

The first of each pools were qualified to quarter of finals

Pool 1

Pos	Team	Points
1	Toulouse	15
2	Bourgoin	13
3	Biarritz	10
4	Agen	10

Pool 2

Pos	Team	Points
1	Colomiers	16
2	Stade Français	12
3	Narbonne	10
4	Pau	10

Pool 3

Pos	Team	Points
1	CA Bègles-Bordeaux	14
2	Castres	14
3	Perpignan	12
4	Dax	8

Pool 4

Pos	Team	Points
1	Montferrand	14
2	Grenoble	12
3	Toulon	12
4	Brive	10

Grenoble was 2nd due to having less "red cards" during the season .

Quarters of final

15 may	Bordeaux-Begles	-	Bourgoin	8–14
15 may	Toulouse	-	Stade Français	51–19
16 may	Montferrand	-	Castres	28–27
16 may	Colomiers	-	Grenoble	15–29

Semifinals

22 may	Montferrand	-	Grenoble	26–17
22 may	Toulouse	-	Bourgoin	26–17

Final

29 May 1999

Toulouse	15 – 11	Montferrand
Try: Stensness Desbrosse Con: Marfaing Pen: Marfaing		Try: Nadau Pen: Merceron (2)

Stade de France, Saint-Denis
Referee: Gérard Borréani


FB	15	Stéphane Ougier
RW	14	Xavier Garbajosa
OC	13	Cédric Desbrosse	72'
IC	12	Émile Ntamack
LW	11	Michel Marfaing
FH	10	Lee Stensness
SH	9	Jérôme Cazalbou
N8	8	Sylvain Dispagne	39'
OF	7	Christian Labit	77'
BF	6	Didier Lacroix
RL	5	Franck Belot (c)
LL	4	Fabien Pelous
TP	3	Franck Tournaire	72'
HK	2	Yannick Bru
LP	1	Christian Califano
Substitutions:
HK	16	Patrick Soula
PR	17	Jean-Louis Jordana	72'
LK	18	Hugues Miorin	39'
FL	19	Matthieu Lièvremont	77'
SH	20	Jérôme Fillol
FH	21	Christophe Deylaud
CE	22	Pierre Bondouy	72'
Coach:
Guy Novès


FB	15	Nicolas Nadau	78'
RW	14	Jimmy Marlu
OC	13	Jérôme Morante
IC	12	Tony Marsh
LW	11	David Bory
FH	10	Gérald Merceron	67'
SH	9	Stéphane Castaignède	80+3'
N8	8	David Courteix
OF	7	Jean-Marc Lhermet (c)	67'
BF	6	Arnaud Costes
RL	5	Christophe Sarraute	59'
LL	4	David Barrier
TP	3	Fabrice Heyer
HK	2	Olivier Azam	67'
LP	1	Emmanuel Menieu	80+1'
Substitutions:
HK	16	Patrick Laurent-Varange	67'
PR	17	Christophe Duchêne	80+1'
LK	18	Olivier Merle	59'
FL	19	Jérôme Bonvoisin	67'
SH	20	Christophe Larrue	80+3'
FH	21	Éric Nicol	67'
FB	22	Olivier Toulouze	78'
Coach:
Christophe Mombet

Relegation Pools

Pool 1

Pos	Team	Points
1	Auch	14
2	Racing Paris	14
3	Nîmes	10
4	Béziers	10

Béziers was classified last for worst point difference in the direct matches (Nîmes-Béziers 15–5 ; 36–37), and was relegated in Pro D2.

Pool 2

Pos	Team	Points
1	Aurillac	15
2	Périgueux	11
3	La Rochelle	9
4	Nice	5

(ranking after 5 on 6)

RC Nice was relegated in Pro D2.

References