1998–99 French Rugby Union Championship

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.

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

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