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2023–24 Rugby Pro D2 season

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2023–24 Pro D2
Countries France
Date17 August 2023 – 17 May 2024
ChampionsVannes
Official website
www.lnr.fr

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

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Number of teams by regions

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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

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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

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Pro D2 to Top 14

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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

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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

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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

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2023–24 Pro D2 Table
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
Updated to match(es) played on 12 January 2024. Source: [1]
Rules for classification: If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:
  1. Competition points earned in head-to-head matches
  2. Points difference in head-to-head matches
  3. Try differential in head-to-head matches
  4. Points difference in all matches
  5. Try differential in all matches
  6. Points scored in all matches
  7. Tries scored in all matches
  8. Fewer matches forfeited
  9. Classification in the previous Top 14 season
    Notes:
  1. ^ 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

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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
Narbonne19–20Montauban
Report
Parc des Sports et de l'Amitié, Narbonne
Attendance: 9,500
Referee: Pierre Bru

Promotion playoffs

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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

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Notes

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  1. ^ In recent years, Rouen has taken occasional home matches to Stade Robert Diochon.

References

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  1. ^ "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.
  2. ^ "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.
  3. ^ "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.
  4. ^ 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.
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