2022–23 Pro D2
Countries France
Date26 August 2022 – 5 May 2023
ChampionsOyonnax (3rd title)
Official website
www.lnr.fr

The 2022–23 Rugby Pro D2 is the second-level French rugby union club competition, below the Top 14, for the 2022–23 season. It will run alongside the 2022–23 Top 14 competition; both competitions are operated by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR).

Teams

Number of teams by regions

Teams Region or country Team(s)
4  Nouvelle-AquitaineAgen, Biarritz, Mont-de-Marsan, Soyaux Angoulême
 OccitanieBéziers, Carcassonne, Colomiers, Montauban
3  Auvergne-Rhône-AlpesAurillac, Grenoble, Oyonnax
1  Bourgogne-Franche-ComtéNevers
 BrittanyVannes
 Île-de-FranceMassy
 NormandyRouen
 Provence-Alpes-Côte d'AzurProvence

Competition format

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

Pro D2 to Top 14

As noted above, both promotion places will be determined by play-offs from 2017–18 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

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

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

Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PD B Pts
1 Oyonnax (C, P) 30 23 1 6 904 457 +447 17 111 Semi-final promotion playoff place
2 Grenoble 30 19 3 8 672 588 +84 8 87[lower-alpha 1]
3 Mont-de-Marsan 30 19 0 11 764 649 +115 10 86 Quarter-final promotion playoff place
4 Nevers 30 17 3 10 718 551 +167 11 85
5 Vannes 30 17 1 12 718 633 +85 11 81
6 Agen 30 15 1 14 653 583 +70 15 77
7 Colomiers 30 15 0 15 674 678 −4 10 70
8 Provence 30 13 4 13 652 638 +14 9 69
9 Béziers 30 13 1 16 700 716 −16 11 65
10 Aurillac 30 15 0 15 586 706 −120 5 65
11 Biarritz 30 12 2 16 690 699 −9 8 60
12 Rouen 30 12 2 16 594 767 −173 6 58
13 Montauban 30 12 1 17 678 784 −106 6 54[lower-alpha 1]
14 Soyaux Angoulême 30 11 0 19 569 697 −128 8 52
15 Carcassonne (R) 30 10 1 19 553 677 −124 10 52 Relegation to Nationale
16 Massy (R) 30 7 0 23 499 801 −302 5 33
Source: Pro D2
Rules for classification: When two teams have the same points total, position is determined by head-to-head results before points difference.
(C) Champion; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated
Notes:
  1. 1 2 Grenoble were penalised three competition points, and Montauban were penalised two, for financial and administrative issues that made the clubs "non-compliant with the regulatory provisions and decisions of the CCCP".[5][6]

Promotion playoffs

Semi-final Qualifiers Semi-finals Final
1 Oyonnax 26
4 Nevers 17 5 Vannes 21
5 Vannes 20 1 Oyonnax 14
2 Grenoble 3
2 Grenoble 36
3 Mont-de-Marsan 37 3 Mont-de-Marsan 27
6 Agen 24

See also

Notes

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

References

  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. 1 2 Mortimer, Gavin (18 August 2016). "French rugby enjoys a popularity boom as it looks to the future". Rugby World. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  5. ↑ "Le FCG sanctionné de trois points de retrait au classement par la Ligue !". Le Dauphiné libéré (in French). 21 November 2022. Retrieved 18 January 2023. Un retrait de cinq points dont deux points avec sursis au classement du championnat professionnel de Pro D2 de la saison en cours [...] Cette sanction a été prononcée au motif du « non-respect des dispositions réglementaires et décisions de la CCCP ».
  6. ↑ "Pro D2 : l'US Montauban sanctionnée de cinq points de retrait pour la prochaine saison !" [Pro D2: US Montauban sanctioned with five withdrawal points for the next season!]. La Dépêche (in French). 20 May 2022. Retrieved 29 August 2022.
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