The Top 14 is a professional rugby union club competition that is played in France. Created in 1892, the Top 14 is at the top of the national league system operated by the France National Rugby League, also known by its French initialism of LNR. There is promotion and relegation between the Top 14 and the next level down, the Pro D2. The fourteen best rugby teams in France participate in the competition, hence the name Top 14. The competition was previously known as the Top 16.
Stade Français Paris is a French professional rugby union club based in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. The club plays in the Top 14 domestic league in France and is one of the most successful French clubs of the modern era. The original Stade Français was founded in 1883. In its current form, the club was founded in 1995 with the merger of the rugby sections of the Stade Français and Club Athlétique des Sports Généraux (CASG).
Bernard Laporte is a rugby player, coach and former French Secretary of State for Sport. From 1999 to 2007, Laporte was the head coach of the France national team. In 2011, he became the head coach at Toulon, after Philippe Saint-André became the new national team coach. He was previously the coach at Stade Français. He was the first fully professional head coach of France. Laporte was president of the French Rugby Federation from December 2016 to January 2023.
The Bouclier de Brennus, or Brennus Shield in English, is a trophy awarded annually to the French rugby union club that wins the domestic league.
Stade Bordelais are a French rugby union club, based in Bordeaux. The club was established in 1889. Bordelais were a major force in the French championship during the 1900s. Until 2005–06, the senior team competed in the second level of domestic competition, the Pro D2, but was merged with the senior team of CA Bordeaux-Bègles Gironde into Union Stade Bordelais-CA Bègles Bordeaux Gironde changed in 2008 to Union Bordeaux Bègles. The club only keeps youth teams and a women's team that won the First Division championship in 2023.
Union Bordeaux Bègles is a French professional rugby union team playing in the Top 14, the first level of the country's professional league system. They earned their Top 14 place by winning the promotion playoffs that followed the 2010–11 season in the second-level Pro D2. Upon promotion to the Top 14 in 2011, they were assured a place in the European Challenge Cup. In 2015, they earned their European Champions Cup place, after winning the European playoffs against Gloucester Rugby in Worcester.
Club Athlétique Bordeaux-Bègles Gironde is a French multisports club, established in 1907, based in Bègles, in the southern suburbs of Bordeaux. Their rugby union section, Union Bordeaux Bègles is their flagship. They play in blue and white chequered shirts, hence their nickname Les Damiers.
Lionel Beauxis, born on October 24, 1985, in Tarbes (Hautes-Pyrénées), is a French rugby union player who primarily played as a fly-half.
Marc de Rougemont is a French rugby union footballer. He plays as a hooker. His nickname is "Le Rouge".
Thierry Devergie is a French former rugby union & rugby league footballer. He played as a lock and as a flanker. He also had a brief stint as a professional rugby league footballer.
Philippe Gimbert is a former French rugby union player and coach. He played as a prop.
Richard Pool-Jones is an English former rugby union player and current coach. He earned one cap for England in 1998, playing in the record 76-0 loss to Australia. Pool-Jones, who played club rugby in France for Biarritz Olympique and Stade Français, played for the latter in the 2001 Heineken Cup Final.
Jacques Brunel is a French rugby union coach and former player. He was most recently the French national team head coach, having previously been assistant coach for his nation and had led the Italian national team between 2011 and 2016. Brunel, who has spent most of his career in France, formally coached his former team Auch, as well as Bordeaux Bègles, Colomiers, Pau and Perpignan.
The 2012–13 Top 14 competition was a French domestic rugby union club competition operated by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR). Two new teams from the 2011–12 Pro D2 season were promoted to Top 14 this year, Grenoble and Stade Montois in place of the two relegated teams, CA Brive and Lyon OU. Home-and-away play began on 17 August 2012 and continued through to 5 May 2013. The regular season was followed by a three-round playoff involving the top six sides. The final was contested at the Stade de France between Toulon and Castres; the match was won 19–14 by Castres to earn them their first title since the controversial final in 1993.
Maxime Machenaud is a French rugby union player. His position is scrum-half and he currently plays for Bayonne and formerly of the France national team.
Alexandre Flanquart is a former French rugby union player. He played as a lock for Stade Français, Bordeaux Bègles, and Provence Rugby.
The 1927–28 French Rugby Union Championship of first division was won la Pau that beat the 'Quillan in the final.
The 1929−30 French Rugby Union Championship of first division was won by Agen that defeated the Quillan in the final.
Serg Simon is a former French rugby union player and a physician. He previously played for Union Bordeaux Begles, AS Merginac, Stade Bordelais and Stade Francais in France before playing for English side Gloucester Rugby
The 2021–22 Top 14 competition was the 123rd French domestic rugby union club competition operated by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR).
