2014–15 Rugby Pro D2 season
This article needs to be updated.(May 2015) |
2014–15 Pro D2 | |
---|---|
Countries | France |
Date | 23 August 2014 – 24 May 2015[1] |
Champions | Pau |
Promoted | Agen |
Relegated | Massy |
Matches played | 112 |
Attendance | 199,262 (average 1,779 per match) |
Tries scored | 178 (average 1.6 per match) |
Top point scorer | (Carcassonne) 180 points[2] |
Top try scorer | (Montauban) & Rodney Davies (Biarritz) 6 tries[3] |
Official website | |
www | |
The 2014–15 Rugby Pro D2 was the second-level French rugby union club competition, behind the Top 14, for the 2014–15 season. It ran alongside the 2014–15 Top 14 competition; both competitions are operated by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR). The average team salaries at the outset of the 2014–15 season were €5.97m; Biarritz and Perpignan had the highest team salaries with €11.07m.[4]
Teams[]
Changes in the lineup from 2013–14 were:
- Lyon won the 2013–14 Pro D2 title and were thereby automatically promoted to the Top 14. La Rochelle won the promotion playoffs to secure the second promotion place.
- The bottom two finishers in 2013–14, Bourg-en-Bresse and Auch, were relegated from Pro D2 to Fédérale 1.
- The two bottom finishers in the 2013–14 Top 14 season, Perpignan and Biarritz Olympique, were relegated to Pro D2.
- The two finalists in Fédérale 1, champion Montauban and runner-up Massy, earned promotion.
Competition format[]
The top team at the end of the regular season (after all the teams played one another twice, once at home, once away), is declared champion and earns a spot in the next Top 14 season. Teams ranked second to fifth compete in promotion playoffs, with the semifinals being played at the home ground of the higher-ranked team. The final is then played on neutral ground, and the winner earns the second ticket to the next Top 14.
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:[7]
- 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). This is a change from previous seasons, in which the margin was 7 points or less.
Table[]
| |||||||||||||||||
Club | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Points For | Points Against | Points Difference | Try Bonus | Losing Bonus | Points | |||||||
1 | Pau | 30 | 20 | 1 | 9 | 754 | 530 | +224 | 10 | 2 | 94 | ||||||
2 | Mont-de-Marsan | 30 | 18 | 0 | 12 | 676 | 531 | +145 | 4 | 7 | 83 | ||||||
3 | Perpignan | 30 | 17 | 1 | 12 | 744 | 615 | +129 | 7 | 5 | 82 | ||||||
4 | Agen | 30 | 17 | 0 | 13 | 732 | 611 | +121 | 7 | 6 | 81 | ||||||
5 | Albi | 30 | 18 | 0 | 12 | 651 | 606 | +45 | 2 | 6 | 80 | ||||||
6 | Aurillac | 30 | 16 | 2 | 12 | 650 | 579 | +71 | 6 | 3 | 77 | ||||||
7 | Biarritz | 30 | 17 | 0 | 13 | 647 | 580 | +67 | 6 | 3 | 77 | ||||||
8 | Colomiers | 30 | 16 | 0 | 14 | 635 | 632 | +3 | 1 | 4 | 69 | ||||||
9 | Carcassonne | 30 | 15 | 0 | 15 | 688 | 706 | –18 | 2 | 4 | 66 | ||||||
10 | Montauban | 30 | 13 | 1 | 16 | 627 | 638 | –11 | 5 | 5 | 64 | ||||||
11 | Béziers | 30 | 14 | 0 | 16 | 620 | 655 | –35 | 2 | 5 | 63 | ||||||
12 | Tarbes | 30 | 13 | 2 | 15 | 635 | 750 | −115 | 0 | 6 | 62 | ||||||
13 | Bourgoin | 30 | 11 | 3 | 16 | 548 | 652 | –104 | 2 | 4 | 52 | ||||||
14 | Narbonne | 30 | 11 | 1 | 18 | 604 | 746 | −142 | 1 | 3 | 50 | ||||||
15 | Dax | 30 | 10 | 1 | 19 | 518 | 687 | −169 | 1 | 4 | 47 | ||||||
16 | Massy | 30 | 8 | 0 | 22 | 643 | 854 | −211 | 1 | 8 | 41 | ||||||
Green background (row 1) Champions automatically promoted to Top 14. Yellow background denotes winner of the promotion play-offs. Blue background denotes teams that qualified for the promotion play-offs. Red background (row 16) was relegated to Fédérale 1. Dax, which finished in 15th, was spared relegation when Fédérale 1 runner-up Lille was denied promotion. Updated: 21 August 2015 |
Relegation[]
Normally, the teams that finish in 15th and 16th places in the table are relegated to Fédérale 1 at the end of the season. In certain circumstances, "financial reasons" may cause a higher-placed team to be demoted instead, or prevent one of the two finalists in Fédérale 1 from promotion.
This season saw an example of the latter situation. Following the 2014–15 season, 15th-place Dax was spared relegation after Fédérale 1 runner-up Lille was denied promotion due to excessive debt[8] and failed in an appeal of the decision.[9]
The last instance of a team outside the bottom two places being relegated was at the end of the 2011–12 season, when 9th-place Bourgoin were relegated, thereby reprieving 15th-place Béziers.
Fixtures[]
The outline fixtures schedule was announced on 16 May 2014.[1][10]
Round 1[]
Round 2[]
Round 3[]
Round 4[]
Round 5[]
20 September 2014
18:30 |
Massy | 27 – 25 | Bourgoin (BP) |
---|---|---|
Stats |
Attendance: 1,625 Referee: Vincent Blasco-Baqué |
Round 6[]
Round 7[]
Round 8[]
Round 9[]
Round 10[]
Round 11[]
16 November 2014
15:05 |
Carcassonne | 17 – 28 | Mont-de-Marsan |
---|---|---|
Stats |
Stade Albert-Domec
Referee: Pierre Brousset |
Round 12[]
Round 13[]
Round 14[]
Weekend of 13 December 2014
Round 15[]
Weekend of 20 December 2014
Round 16[]
Weekend of 10 January 2015
Round 17[]
Weekend of 17 January 2015
Round 18[]
Weekend of 24 January 2015
Round 19[]
Weekend of 31 January 2015
Round 20[]
Weekend of 7 February 2015
Round 21[]
Weekend of 21 February 2015
Round 22[]
Weekend of 28 February 2015
Round 23[]
Weekend of 7 March 2015
Round 24[]
Weekend of 14 March 2015
Round 25[]
Weekend of 28 March 2015
Round 26[]
Weekend of 4 April 2015
Round 27[]
Weekend of 11 April 2015
Round 28[]
Weekend of 25 April 2015
Round 29[]
Weekend of 2 May 2015
Round 30[]
Weekend of 9 May 2015
Play–offs[]
The highest ranked team at the end of the regular season, Pau, earned automatic promotion to the Top 14 as champion de France de PRO D2 2015.
Semi–finals[]
The semi–finals followed a 2 v 5, 3 v 4 system, with the higher ranked team playing at home.
- Under LNR rules, if a playoff match ends level after full-time, the first tiebreaker is try count. Agen advanced with 4 tries to Perpignan's 2.
Final[]
The winners of the semi–finals played off for the second promotion spot to the Top 14.
24 May 2015
15:05 |
Mont-de-Marsan | 15 – 16 | Agen |
---|---|---|
Try: 14' c 79' m Con: 15' Pen: 43' |
Stats | Try: Paris 45' c Con: Francis (1/1) Pen: Francis (3) 21', 31', 56' |
See also[]
References[]
- ^ Jump up to: a b "CP LNR - TOP 14 et PRO D2, les calendriers 2014-2015" (in French). LNR. 16 May 2014. Retrieved 2 June 2014.
- ^ "Statistiques générales, Saison 2014-2015" (in French). Ligue nationale de rugby. Archived from the original on 2013-08-06. Retrieved 5 October 2014. Click on the tabs for "Joueurs" and "Meilleurs réalisateurs".
- ^ "Statistiques générales, Saison 2014-2015" (in French). Ligue nationale de rugby. Archived from the original on 2013-08-06. Retrieved 5 October 2014. Click on the tabs for "Joueurs" and "Meilleurs marqueurs".
- ^ "Toulouse top budget charts in Top 14 with €35m", ESPNscrum. August 19, 2014.
- ^ "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.
- ^ "La montée de Lille refusée". L'Équipe (in French). 23 June 2015. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
- ^ "Décisions du Comité Directeur de la LNR du 21 août 2015" (PDF) (Press release) (in French). LNR. 21 August 2015. Retrieved 21 August 2015.
- ^ "Calendrier 2014/2015" (PDF) (in French). LNR. 16 May 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 July 2014. Retrieved 2 June 2014.
External links[]
- (in French) Ligue Nationale de Rugby – Official website
- (in French) Midi Olympique
- Rugby Pro D2 seasons
- 2014–15 in French rugby union leagues