The 2017–18 Top 14 competition was the 119th French domestic rugby union club competition operated by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR). Two new teams from the 2016–17 Pro D2 season were promoted to Top 14 (Oyonnax and Agen) in place of the two relegated teams, Grenoble and Bayonne. It marks the second time in a row that both promoted teams had returned on their first opportunity after relegation (Oyonnax and Agen were both relegated during the 2015–16 Top 14 season).

Quick Facts Countries, Date ...

2017–18 Top 14
Countries	France
Date	26 August 2017 – 2 June 2018
Champions	Castres (5th title)
Runners-up	Montpellier
Relegated	Brive, Oyonnax
Matches played	187
Attendance	2,681,834 (average 14,341 per match)
Highest attendance	78,442 (play-offs) Montpellier v Castres 2 June 2018 42,000 (league) Toulon v Montpellier 14 April 2018
Lowest attendance	5,678 Stade Français v Agen 24 February 2018
Top point scorer	Ben Botica (Oyonnax) 315 points
Top try scorer	Chris Ashton (Toulon) 24 tries
Official website
www.lnr.fr/rugby-top-14
← 2016–17 2018–19 →

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The top six teams at the end of the regular season (after all the teams played one another twice, once at home, once away) enter a knockout stage to decide the Champions of France. This consists of three rounds: the teams finishing third to sixth in the table play quarter-finals (hosted by the third and fourth placed teams). The winners then face the top two teams in the semi-finals, with the winners meeting in the final at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis.

The LNR uses a slightly different bonus points system from that used in most other rugby competitions. It trialled a new system in 2007–08 explicitly designed to prevent a losing team from earning more than one bonus point in a match,^[5] a system that also made it impossible for either team to earn a bonus point in a drawn match. LNR chose to continue with this system for subsequent seasons.^[6]

France's bonus point system operates as follows:^[6]

• 4 points for a win.
• 2 points for a draw.
• 1 bonus point for winning while scoring at least 3 more tries than the opponent. This replaces the standard bonus point for scoring 4 tries regardless of the match result.
• 1 bonus point for losing by 5 points (or fewer). The margin had been 7 points until being changed prior to the 2014–15 season.

Starting from the 2017–18 season forward, only the 14th placed team will be automatically relegated to Pro D2. The 13th placed team will face the runner-up of the Pro D2 play-off, with the winner of that play-off taking up the final place in Top 14 for the following season.^[7]

The team finishing in 13th place faces the runner-up of the Pro D2, with the winner of this match playing in Top 14 in 2018–19 and the loser in Pro D2.

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Note: Flags to the left of player names indicate national team as has been defined under World Rugby eligibility rules, or primary nationality for players who have not yet earned international senior caps. Players may hold one or more non-WR nationalities.

More information Rank, Player ...

Top points scorers [36] Rank Player Club Points 1 Ben Botica Oyonnax 315 2 Benjamín Urdapilleta Castres 297 3 Thomas Ramos Toulouse 277 4 Ruan Pienaar Montpellier 193 5 Jules Plisson Stade Français 184 6 Tom Taylor Pau 181 7 Anthony Belleau Toulon 180 8 Jake McIntyre Agen 179 9 Lionel Beauxis Lyon 167 10 Morgan Parra Clermont 142

Top try scorers [37] Rank Player Club Tries 1 Chris Ashton Toulon 24 2 Nemani Nadolo Montpellier 19 3 Toby Arnold Lyon 12 Armand Batlle Castres Julien Dumora Castres Louis Picamoles Montpellier 7 Juan Imhoff Racing 92 11 Waisea Nayacalevu Stade Français Watisoni Votu Pau 10 Baptiste Couilloud Lyon 10 Yoann Huget Toulouse Cheslin Kolbe Toulouse Josua Tuisova Toulon

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• Attendances do not include the semi-finals or final as these are at neutral venues.

• 2017–18 Rugby Pro D2 season