1996–97 French Rugby Union Championship

1996–97 French Rugby Union Championship
1996–97 French Rugby Union Championship
Countries	France
Champions	Toulouse (14th title)
Runners-up	Bourgoin
Relegated	Nîmes, Périgueux, PUC, Dijon
	← 1995–96 1997–98 →

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

Toulouse	12 – 6	Bourgoin
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