2023–24 Rugby Pro D2 season
| 2023–24 Pro D2 | |
|---|---|
| Countries |  France |
| Date | 17 August 2023 – 17 May 2024 |
| Champions | Vannes |
| Official website | |
| www | |
The 2023–24 Rugby Pro D2 is the second-level French rugby union club competition, below the Top 14, for the 2023–24 season. It will run alongside the 2023–24 Top 14 competition; both competitions are operated by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR).
Teams
[edit]
Number of teams by regions
[edit]| Teams | Region or country | Team(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 6 |  Nouvelle-Aquitaine |
Agen, Biarritz, Brive, Dax, Mont-de-Marsan, Soyaux Angoulême |
| 3 |  Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes |
Aurillac, Grenoble, Valence Romans |
 Occitanie |
Béziers, Colomiers, Montauban | |
| 1 |  Bourgogne-Franche-Comté |
Nevers |
 Brittany |
Vannes | |
 Normandy |
Rouen | |
 Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur |
Provence |
Competition format
[edit]The regular season uses a double round-robin format, in which each team plays the others home and away.
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,[1] 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.[2]
France's bonus point system operates as follows:[3]
- 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 less). The required margin had been 7 points or less until being changed in advance of the 2014–15 season.
Starting with the 2017–18 season, Pro D2 conducts a play-off system identical to the one currently used in Top 14, with the top six teams qualifying for the play-offs and the top two teams receiving byes into the semi-finals. The winner of the play-offs earns the league championship and automatic promotion to the next season's Top 14; the runner-up enters a play-off with the second-from-bottom Top 14 team, with the winner of that play-off taking up the final place in Top 14.[4]
This replaced the previous system in which the top team at the end of the regular season was declared champion, also earning a Top 14 place, while the second- through fifth-place teams competed in promotion play-offs. The play-off semi-finals were played at the home ground of the higher-ranked team. The final was then played on neutral ground, and the winner earned the second ticket to the next Top 14.
Promotion
[edit]Pro D2 to Top 14
[edit]As noted above, both promotion places will be determined by play-offs from 2017 to 2018 forward, with the winner of the Pro D2 play-offs earning promotion and the runner-up playing the second-from-bottom Top 14 team for the next season's final Top 14 place.
Nationale to Pro D2
[edit]Starting with the 2021–22 season, the FFR created a third professional league, slotting between Pro D2 and Fédérale 1 in the league system called Nationale.[4]
Relegation
[edit]Normally, the teams that finish in 15th and 16th places in the table are relegated to Nationale at the end of the season. In certain circumstances, "financial reasons" may cause a higher-placed team to be demoted instead, or bar a Fédérale 1 team from promotion.
Table
[edit]| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | TB | LB | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Provence | 30 | 20 | 2 | 8 | 803 | 632 | +171 | 8 | 3 | 95 | Semi-final promotion playoff place |
| 2 | Vannes | 30 | 17 | 2 | 11 | 777 | 508 | +269 | 10 | 7 | 89 | |
| 3 | Béziers | 30 | 17 | 1 | 12 | 789 | 715 | +74 | 6 | 4 | 80 | Quarter-final promotion playoff place |
| 4 | Grenoble | 30 | 19 | 0 | 11 | 826 | 694 | +132 | 8 | 3 | 79[a] | |
| 5 | Dax | 30 | 17 | 1 | 12 | 626 | 683 | −57 | 5 | 2 | 77 | |
| 6 | Brive | 30 | 16 | 1 | 13 | 689 | 583 | +106 | 8 | 2 | 76 | |
| 7 | Nevers | 30 | 15 | 0 | 15 | 682 | 610 | +72 | 6 | 9 | 75 | |
| 8 | Mont-de-Marsan | 30 | 15 | 1 | 14 | 766 | 641 | +125 | 5 | 7 | 74 | |
| 9 | Aurillac | 30 | 14 | 1 | 15 | 593 | 764 | −171 | 3 | 3 | 64 | |
| 10 | Colomiers | 30 | 13 | 1 | 16 | 661 | 657 | +4 | 4 | 6 | 64 | |
| 11 | Valence Romans | 30 | 13 | 0 | 17 | 623 | 640 | −17 | 5 | 5 | 62 | |
| 12 | Soyaux Angoulême | 30 | 13 | 2 | 15 | 563 | 616 | −53 | 0 | 6 | 62 | |
| 13 | Agen | 30 | 13 | 1 | 16 | 597 | 732 | −135 | 2 | 5 | 61 | |
| 14 | Biarritz | 30 | 11 | 0 | 19 | 618 | 811 | −193 | 4 | 5 | 53 | |
| 15 | Montauban | 30 | 11 | 0 | 19 | 577 | 755 | −178 | 2 | 5 | 51 | Relegation play-off |
| 16 | Rouen | 30 | 9 | 1 | 20 | 604 | 753 | −149 | 5 | 5 | 48 | Relegation to Nationale |
Rules for classification: If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:
- Competition points earned in head-to-head matches
- Points difference in head-to-head matches
- Try differential in head-to-head matches
- Points difference in all matches
- Try differential in all matches
- Points scored in all matches
- Tries scored in all matches
- Fewer matches forfeited
- Classification in the previous Top 14 season
Notes:
- ^ Following the decisions rendered by the Appeal Commission on July 6, 2023 and December 14, 2023 by the Disciplinary Council, a withdrawal of 12 points applies for FC Grenoble Rugby.The total sanction was reduced on appeal on 31 January 2024, recovering four points in the ranking.
Relegation playoff
[edit]The team finishing in 15th place faces the runner-up of the Nationale, with the winner of this match playing in the 2024–25 Pro D2 and the loser in the 2024–25 Nationale.
| 2 June 2024 15:00 |
| Narbonne | 19–20 | Montauban |
| Report |
| Parc des Sports et de l'Amitié, Narbonne Attendance: 9,500 Referee: Pierre Bru |
Promotion playoffs
[edit]| Semi-final Qualifiers | Semi-finals | Final | ||||||||||||
| 1 | Provence | 22 | ||||||||||||
| 4 | Grenoble | 58 | 4 | Grenoble | 23 | |||||||||
| 5 | Dax | 10 | 4 | Grenoble | 9 | |||||||||
| 2 | Vannes | 16 | ||||||||||||
| 2 | Vannes | 27 | ||||||||||||
| 3 | Béziers | 33 | 3 | Béziers | 21 | |||||||||
| 6 | Brive | 31 | ||||||||||||
See also
[edit]Notes
[edit]- ^ In recent years, Rouen has taken occasional home matches to Stade Robert Diochon.
References
[edit]- ^ "French try out new bonus point system". Planet-Rugby.com. 27 June 2007. Archived from the original on 29 September 2007. Retrieved 13 August 2007.
- ^ "Article 330, Section 3.2. Points "terrain"" (PDF). Règlements de la Ligue Nationale de Rugby 2008/2009, Chapitre 2 : Règlement sportif du Championnat de France Professionnel (in French). LNR. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 February 2012. Retrieved 27 August 2008.
- ^ "Article 330, Section 3.2. Points "terrain" et points de bonus" (PDF). Statuts et Reglements de la Ligue Nationale de Rugby 2014/2015, Chapitre 2 : Règlement sportif des championnats profesionnels (in French). Ligue Nationale de Rugby. p. 166. Retrieved 2014-08-26.
- ^ a b Mortimer, Gavin (18 August 2016). "French rugby enjoys a popularity boom as it looks to the future". Rugby World. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
External links
[edit]- (in French) Ligue Nationale de Rugby – Official website
- (in French) Midi Olympique