# 1998–99 French Rugby Union Championship

The 1998–99 French Rugby Union Championship was played by 24 teams divided in the preliminary phase into three pools of 8. The first five teams from each pool and the best 6th placed were admitted to second round. The other played a relegation tournament divided in two pools.
Toulouse won the title, beating Montferrand in the final (that lose for 6th time the final).

## First round

| Pool 1 PosTeamPoints 1Stade Français34 2Biarritz34 3Narbonne32 4Castres32 5Bourgoin29 6Toulon28 7Aurillac21 8Nîmes14 | Pool 2 PosTeamPoints 1Perpignan34 2Montferrand33 3Agen32 4Dax31 5Bègles-Bordeaux29 6Béziers28 7Auch20 8Nice17 | Pool 3 PosTeamPoints 1Toulouse38 2Brive36 3Pau33 4Grenoble30 5Colomiers26 6Périgueux23 7Racing Paris20 8La Rochelle18 |
Béziers and Toulon had both 28 points. The "best 6th" was Toulon due to having less "red Cards" during the season.

## Second round

The first of each pools were qualified to quarter of finals
| Pool 1 PosTeamPoints 1Toulouse15 2Bourgoin13 3Biarritz10 4Agen10 | Pool 2 PosTeamPoints 1Colomiers16 2Stade Français12 3Narbonne10 4Pau10 |
| Pool 3 PosTeamPoints 1CA Bègles-Bordeaux14 2Castres14 3Perpignan12 4Dax8 | Pool 4 PosTeamPoints 1Montferrand14 2Grenoble12 3Toulon12 4Brive10 |
Grenoble was 2nd due to having less "red cards" during the season .

## Quarters of final

| 15 may | Bordeaux-Begles | - | Bourgoin | 8–14 |
| 15 may | Toulouse | - | Stade Français | 51–19 |
| 16 may | Montferrand | - | Castres | 28–27 |
| 16 may | Colomiers | - | Grenoble | 15–29 |

## Semifinals

| 22 may | Montferrand | - | Grenoble | 26–17 |
| 22 may | Toulouse | - | Bourgoin | 26–17 |

## Final

* 29 May 1999
| Toulouse | 15 – 11 | Montferrand |
| Try: Stensness Desbrosse Con: Marfaing Pen: Marfaing | | Try: Nadau Pen: Merceron (2) |
* Stade de France, Saint-Denis Referee: Gérard Borréani
| FB | 15 | Stéphane Ougier |
| RW | 14 | Xavier Garbajosa |
| OC | 13 | Cédric Desbrosse | 72' |
| IC | 12 | Émile Ntamack |
| LW | 11 | Michel Marfaing |
| FH | 10 | Lee Stensness |
| SH | 9 | Jérôme Cazalbou |
| N8 | 8 | Sylvain Dispagne | 39' |
| OF | 7 | Christian Labit | 77' |
| BF | 6 | Didier Lacroix |
| RL | 5 | Franck Belot (c) |
| LL | 4 | Fabien Pelous | |
| TP | 3 | Franck Tournaire | 72' |
| HK | 2 | Yannick Bru |
| LP | 1 | Christian Califano | |
| Substitutions: ||
| HK | 16 | Patrick Soula |
| PR | 17 | Jean-Louis Jordana | 72' |
| LK | 18 | Hugues Miorin | 39' |
| FL | 19 | Matthieu Lièvremont | 77' |
| SH | 20 | Jérôme Fillol |
| FH | 21 | Christophe Deylaud |
| CE | 22 | Pierre Bondouy | 72' |
| Coach: ||
| Guy Novès ||
| FB | 15 | Nicolas Nadau | 78' |
| RW | 14 | Jimmy Marlu |
| OC | 13 | Jérôme Morante |
| IC | 12 | Tony Marsh |
| LW | 11 | David Bory |
| FH | 10 | Gérald Merceron | 67' |
| SH | 9 | Stéphane Castaignède | 80+3' |
| N8 | 8 | David Courteix | |
| OF | 7 | Jean-Marc Lhermet (c) | 67' |
| BF | 6 | Arnaud Costes |
| RL | 5 | Christophe Sarraute | 59' |
| LL | 4 | David Barrier |
| TP | 3 | Fabrice Heyer | |
| HK | 2 | Olivier Azam | 67' |
| LP | 1 | Emmanuel Menieu | 80+1' |
| Substitutions: ||
| HK | 16 | Patrick Laurent-Varange | 67' |
| PR | 17 | Christophe Duchêne | 80+1' |
| LK | 18 | Olivier Merle | 59' |
| FL | 19 | Jérôme Bonvoisin | 67' |
| SH | 20 | Christophe Larrue | 80+3' |
| FH | 21 | Éric Nicol | 67' |
| FB | 22 | Olivier Toulouze | 78' |
| Coach: ||
| Christophe Mombet ||

## Relegation Pools

| Pool 1 PosTeamPoints 1Auch14 2Racing Paris14 3Nîmes10 4Béziers10 Béziers was classified last for worst point difference in the direct matches (Nîmes-Béziers 15–5; 36–37), and was relegated in Pro D2. | Pool 2 PosTeamPoints 1Aurillac15 2Périgueux11 3La Rochelle9 4Nice5 (ranking after 5 on 6) RC Nice was relegated in Pro D2. |