2007–08 Top 14 season
| 2007–08 Top 14 season | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Countries |
 France
|
| Champions | Toulouse |
| Runners-up | Clermont |
| Relegated |
Albi Auch |
|
← 2006–07
2008–09 →
|
|
The 2007-08 Top 14 Competition was a French domestic rugby union club competition, operated by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR). Because France hosted the 2007 Rugby World Cup, the competition did not begin at its normal time of August, but instead started on the last weekend in October 2007, one week after the Rugby World Cup final. The league compensated for the late start by playing on several weekends that it normally skips, namely the weekends of the 2008 Six Nations Championship and the semifinals and final of the 2007-08 Heineken Cup. The season ended on June 28, 2008, with Toulouse defeating regular-season league leader Clermont 26–20 in the final and thereby lifting the Bouclier de Brennus.
This year's edition of the Top 14 welcomed Auch and Dax, who earned promotion from Rugby Pro D2.Agen and Narbonne were relegated from the Top 14.
As in previous seasons, the top four clubs at the end of the home-and-away season advanced to a single-elimination playoff. The semifinals were held at neutral sites, with the final at Stade de France. Going into the season, the top six clubs were guaranteed of berths in the 2008-09 Heineken Cup. Since Toulouse advanced to the 2007-08 Heineken Cup final against Irish club Munster, thereby assuring a higher finish for a French team in that competition than for any team from England or Italy, the seventh-place club also earned a berth in the 2008-09 Heineken Cup. The bottom two teams were provisionally relegated to Pro D2, with the possibility of one or both of the bottom teams to be reprieved if a team above them failed a postseason financial audit. This happened in 2007-08, as Albi failed the audit, ultimately giving a reprieve to second-from bottom Dax.
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