1997–98 French Rugby Union Championship

1997–98 French Rugby Union Championship
Countries	France
Champions	Stade Français (9th title)
Runners-up	Montferrand
Relegated	Montpellier

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.

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

Pool 1 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 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

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

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

Final

16 May 1998

Stade Français	34 – 7	Perpignan
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