1996–97 French Rugby Union Championship

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

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

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