2021–22 Rugby Pro D2 season
| 2021–22 Pro D2 | |
|---|---|
| Countries |  France |
| Date | 28 August 2021 – 26 June 2022 |
| Official website | |
| www | |
The 2021–22 Rugby Pro D2 is the second-level French rugby union club competition, below the Top 14, for the 2021–22 season. It will run alongside the 2021–22 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) |
|---|---|---|
| 5 |  Occitanie |
Béziers, Carcassonne, Colomiers, Montauban, Narbonne |
| 4 |  Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes |
Aurillac, Bourg-en-Bresse, Grenoble, Oyonnax |
| 3 |  Nouvelle-Aquitaine |
Agen, Bayonne, Mont-de-Marsan |
| 1 |  Bourgogne-Franche-Comté |
Nevers |
 Brittany |
Vannes | |
 Normandy |
Rouen | |
 Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur |
Provence |
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[]
The current table for the 2021–22 Rugby Pro D2 is:[5]
| |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pos | Club | Pl | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | TB | LB | Pts | ||||||
| 1 | Mont-de-Marsan | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 200 | 62 | +138 | 3 | 0 | 23 | ||||||
| 2 | Colomiers | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 144 | 73 | +71 | 2 | 0 | 22 | ||||||
| 3 | Bayonne | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 132 | 91 | +42 | 1 | 0 | 19 | ||||||
| 4 | Montauban | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 111 | 87 | +24 | 1 | 0 | 17 | ||||||
| 5 | Oyonnax | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 107 | 70 | +37 | 0 | 2 | 14 | ||||||
| 6 | Béziers | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 94 | 97 | –3 | 0 | 1 | 13 | ||||||
| 7 | Rouen | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 132 | 111 | +21 | 1 | 1 | 12 | ||||||
| 8 | Nevers | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 94 | 108 | –14 | 0 | 1 | 11 | ||||||
| 9 | Grenoble | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 99 | 107 | –8 | 0 | 2 | 10 | ||||||
| 10 | Provence | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 106 | 121 | –15 | 0 | 2 | 10 | ||||||
| 11 | Carcassonne | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 100 | 108 | –8 | 0 | 1 | 9 | ||||||
| 12 | Aurillac | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 90 | 119 | –40 | 0 | 1 | 9 | ||||||
| 13 | Bourg-en-Bresse | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 103 | 142 | –39 | 0 | 2 | 8 | ||||||
| 14 | Narbonne | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 83 | 150 | –69 | 0 | 2 | 6 | ||||||
| 15 | Agen | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 70 | 137 | –67 | 0 | 3 | 3 | ||||||
| 16 | Vannes | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 78 | 153 | –75 | 0 | 2 | 2 | ||||||
| Legend: Pos = Position, Pl = Played, W = Won, D = Drawn, L = Lost, PF = Points For, PA = Points Against, PD = Points Difference, TB = Try Bonus Points, LB = Losing Bonus Points, Pts = Points Total Green background (rows 1 and 2) receive semi-final Promotion play-off places. Blue background (rows 3 to 6) receive quarter-final Promotion play-off places. Red background relegation to Nationale. Notes: When two teams have the same points total, position is determined by head-to-head results before points difference. | |||||||||||||||||
Fixtures & results[]
Round 1[]
Round 2[]
Round 3[]
Round 4[]
Round 5[]
24 September 2021
19:30 |
| (1 BP) Bourg-en-Bresse | 22–26 | Carcassonne |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
Stade Marcel-Verchère
Referee: |
Round 6[]
See also[]
Notes[]
- ^ In recent years, Rouen has taken occasional home matches to Stade Robert Diochon.
References[]
- ^ "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.
- ^ "Classement PRO D2". Ligue Nationale de Rugby (in French). Retrieved 10 September 2021.
External links[]
- (in French) Ligue Nationale de Rugby – Official website
- (in French) Midi Olympique
- Rugby Pro D2 seasons
- 2021–22 in French rugby union leagues