1997–98 French Rugby Union Championship

The 1997–98 French Rugby Union Championship was played by 20 teams divided in the preliminary phase in two pools of 12. The first four team of each pool were admitted to quarters of final.

1997–98 French Rugby Union Championship
Countries France
ChampionsStade Français (9th title)
Runners-upMontferrand
RelegatedMontpellier

Stade Français won the title beating in the final the Montferrand (that lose for 5th time the final). It was the first victory for Stade Français after 90 years, the last was in 1908.

For the first time, the final was played in the new Stade de France

Montpellier was relegated in second division. Five teams were promoted from the second division in order to increase the 1998–99 championship to 24 teams.

Preliminary Phase edit

Pool 1 edit

Pos Team Points
1 Stade toulousain 46
2 US Colomiers 43
3 RC Narbonne 42
4 Montferrand 40
5 Brive 37
6 Biarritz 36
7 Dax 34
8 Béziers 32
9 La Rochelle 28
10 Nice 22

Pool 2 edit

Pos Club Points
1 Stade Français 43
2 Perpignan 43
3 Bègles-Bordeaux 43
4 Castres 42
5 Pau 39
6 Bourgoin 37
7 Agen 37
8 Toulon 35
9 Grenoble 23
10 Montpellier 18

Quarter-final edit

May '98 Bordeaux-Begles - Stade Français 31–26 18–24
May '98 Montferrand - Toulouse 19–10 9–22
May '98 Castres - Perpignan 25–19 7–42
May '98 Narbonne - Colomiers 19–19 8–8

Semi-final edit

May '98 Stade Français - Toulouse 39–3
May '98 Perpignan - Colomiers 15–12

Final edit

16 May 1998
Stade Français34 – 7Perpignan
Try: Simon (18')
Mytton (28')
Bolobolo (41')
Gomes (60')
Dominici (80'+1)
Con: Dominguez (3) (18', 28', 80'+1)
Pen: Dominguez (80')
Try: Pérarnau (77')
Con: Arandiga (77')
Stade de France, Saint-Denis
Referee: Joël Dumé
FB 15   Arthur Gomes
RW 14   Christophe Dominici
OC 13   Franck Comba
IC 12   Cliff Mytton
LW 11   Emori Bolobolo   64'
FH 10   Diego Dominguez
SH 9   Christophe Laussucq
N8 8   Christophe Juillet
OF 7   Richard Pool-Jones   72'
BF 6   Marc Lièvremont
RL 5   Hervé Chaffardon   62'
LL 4   David Auradou   72'
TP 3   Philippe Gimbert   62'
HK 2   Vincent Moscato (c)   78'
LP 1   Serge Simon
Substitutions:
HK 16   Laurent Pedrosa   78'
PR 17   Sylvain Marconnet   62'
LK 18   Grant Ross   62'
LK 19   Olivier Roumat   72'
FL 20   Christophe Moni   72'
SH 21   Ludovic Loustau
WG 22   Geofrey Abadie   64'
Coach:
  Bernard Laporte
FB 15   Gérald Bastide
RW 14   Alewyn Joubert
OC 13   Didier Plana
IC 12   Mathieu Barrau
LW 11   Grégory Tutard
FH 10   Laurent Saliès   56'
SH 9   Jacques Basset   65'
N8 8   Thomas Lièvremont (c)
OF 7   Gérard Majoral
BF 6   Sylvain Deroeux   78'
RL 5   Mike James
LL 4   Jérôme Pradal   62'
TP 3   Stéphane de Besombes
HK 2   Jacques Lançon   36'   80'
LP 1   Renaud Peillard   37'
Substitutions:
HK 16   Michel Konieck   36'   80'
PR 17   Pascal Méya   37'
LK 18   Alain Fourny   62'
LK 19   Olivier Olibeau   78'
SH 20   Christophe Pérarnau   65'
FH 21   Hervé Laporte
FB 22   Gaël Arandiga   56'
Coach:
  Alain Hyardet