2020–21 Rugby Pro D2 season

The 2020–21 Rugby Pro D2 is the second-level French rugby union club competition, behind the Top 14, for the 2020–21 season. It will run alongside the 2020–21 Top 14 competition; both competitions are operated by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR). After play was suspended following the 23rd Matchday of the 2019–20 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic in France, the season was officially cancelled without any winner or promotion/relegation on 6 May.[1]

2020–21 Pro D2
Countries France
Date3 September 2020 – 13 June 2021
Official website
www.lnr.fr

Teams

Number of teams by regions
Teams Region or country Team(s)
5  OccitanieBéziers, Carcassonne, Colomiers, Montauban, Perpignan
4  Auvergne-Rhône-AlpesAurillac, Grenoble, Oyonnax, Valence
3  Nouvelle-AquitaineBiarritz, Mont-de-Marsan, Soyaux Angoulême
1  Bourgogne-Franche-ComtéNevers
 BrittanyVannes
 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,[2] 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.[3]

France's bonus point system operates as follows:[4]

  • 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.[5]

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.

Fédérale 1 to Pro D2

At the same time, LNR and the French Rugby Federation (FFR) changed the promotion process from Fédérale 1 to Pro D2. For three seasons (2017–18 to 2019–20), only one team will be promoted to Pro D2 through the Fédérale 1 competition. The second promotion place will be a "wild card" granted by LNR to a club that meets the following criteria:[5]

  • must be located in northern France (with the dividing line running approximately from La Rochelle to Lyon)
  • have a long-term development plan
  • location in an area that can demographically and economically support a fully professional club

Starting with the 2020–21 season, the FFR created a third professional league, slotting between Pro D2 and Fédérale 1 in the league system called Nationale.[5]

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 bar a Fédérale 1 team from promotion.

Table

The current table for the 2020–21 Rugby Pro D2 is:[6]

2020–21 Rugby Pro D2 Table
Pos Club Pl W D L PF PA PD TB LB Pts
1Perpignan151203404231+1735154
2Vannes151212348255+932153
3Biarritz14824302252+502341
4Oyonnax14914347285+622141
5Colomiers14815298237+611439
6Nevers15708382324+584436
7Provence14725307305+20032
8Béziers15618308305+31532
9Montauban14617259310–510127
10Aurillac15609257299–4202'26
11Grenoble14518261280–190426
12Carcassonne14518264318–540325
13Rouen15519255303–480123
14Mont-de-Marsan13418226283–571322
15Valence Romans14419269347–780321
16Soyaux Angoulême154011231384–1530218
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.

See also

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

References
  1. "Top 14 - Pro D2 : les présidents d'accord pour ne pas attribuer de titre". L'Equipe. 6 May 2020.
  2. "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.
  3. "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.
  4. "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.
  5. Mortimer, Gavin (18 August 2016). "French rugby enjoys a popularity boom as it looks to the future". Rugby World. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  6. "Classement PRO D2". Ligue Nationale de Rugby (in French). Retrieved 8 August 2020.
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