2018–19 Rugby Pro D2 season explained

2018–19 Pro D2
Countries:	France
Date:	17 August 2018 – 26 May 2019
Champions:	Bayonne (1st title)
Runnersup:	Brive
Promoted:	Bayonne, Brive
Relegated:	Massy, Bourg-en-Bresse
Matches:	245
Attendance:	1357695
Highest Attendance:	17,958 (final) Bayonne v Biarritz 26 May 2019 16,207 (league) Bayonne v Biarritz 4 April 2019
Lowest Attendance:	1,131 Massy v Provence 15 February 2019
Top Point Scorer:	Thomas Laranjeira (Brive) 300 points
Top Try Scorer:	Josaia Raisuqe (Nevers) 15 tries
Website:	www.lnr.fr
Prevseason:	2017–18
Nextseason:	2019–20

The 2018–19 Rugby Pro D2 was the second-level French rugby union club competition, behind the Top 14, for the 2018–19 season. It ran alongside the 2018–19 Top 14 competition; both competitions are operated by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR).

On 29 March 2019, Massy became the first side to be relegated, a narrow home defeat against Montauban condemning them to the drop with four games still left to play.^[1] The other relegation spot was much more keenly fought, going all the way to the last round, when on 5 May 2019 Bourg-en-Bresse were the second team to go down, despite winning their final game, just 1 point behind 14th placed Aurillac.^[2] Massy and Bourg-en-Bresse drop to Fédérale 1.

The promotion play-off final was between Brive (1st in the league stage) and Bayonne (3rd). As they had topped the league stage, Brive were slight favourites to make an instant return to the Top 14, while Bayonne had had two tough games including a memorable 38-34 semi-final away against league runners up, Oxonnax, who like Brive had also hoped to make an instant return to the Top 14.^[3] In the final held at the Stade du Hameau, Pau, Bayaonne shaded a close game, 21–19, to win their first ever Pro D2 title and return to the Top 14 after an absence of two seasons.^[4]

Defeated finalists Brive had a second shot at promotion when they faced 2018–19 Top 14 13th placed side, Grenoble, in the relegation playoff. Brive won 28–22 to take Grenoble's place and join Bayonne in the 2019–20 Top 14.^[5] Grenoble and bottom club, Perpignan, would be relegated to the 2019–20 Rugby Pro D2.

Teams

Club	City	Stadium	Capacity	Previous season
	Aurillac (Cantal)	Stade Jean Alric	align=center	9,000	11th
Bayonne	Bayonne (Pyrénées-Atlantiques)	Stade Jean Dauger	align=center	16,934	8th
Béziers	Béziers (Hérault)	Stade de la Méditerranée	align=center	18,555	Semi-final qualifiers (5th in league)
Biarritz	Biarritz (Pyrénées-Atlantiques)	Parc des Sports Aguiléra	align=center	15,000	Semi-final qualifiers (6th in league)
Bourg-en-Bresse	Bourg-en-Bresse (Ain)	Stade Marcel-Verchère	align=center	11,400	Promoted from Fédérale 1 (play-offs)
Brive	Brive-la-Gaillarde (Corrèze)	Stade Amédée-Domenech	align=center	16,000	Relegated from Top 14 (14th)
Carcassonne	Carcassonne (Aude)	Stade Albert Domec	align=center	10,000	14th
Colomiers	Colomiers (Haute-Garonne)	Stade Michel Bendichou	align=center	11,430	9th
Massy	Massy (Essonne)	Stade Jules-Ladoumègue	align=center	3,200	12th
Mont-de-Marsan	Mont-de-Marsan (Landes)	Stade Guy Boniface	align=center	16,800	Semi-finals (4th in league)
Montauban	Montauban (Tarn-et-Garonne)	Stade Sapiac	align=center	12,600	Semi-finals (2nd in league)
Nevers	Nevers (Nièvre)	Stade du Pré Fleuri	align=center	7,500	7th
Oyonnax	Oyonnax (Ain)	Stade Charles-Mathon	align=center	11,400	Relegated from Top 14 (13th - lost play-off)
Provence		Stade Maurice David	align=center	6,000	Promoted from Fédérale 1 (champions)
Soyaux Angoulême	Angoulême (Charente)	Stade Chanzy	align=center	8,000	13th
Vannes	Vannes (Morbihan)	Stade de la Rabine	align=center	9,500	10th

Changes in the lineup from 2017–18 were:

Perpignan won the 2017–18 Pro D2 title and were thereby automatically promoted to the Top 14. Grenoble won the Top 14/Pro D2 playoff to secure the second promotion place.
The two bottom finishers in 2017–18, Narbonne and Dax, were relegated from Pro D2 to Fédérale 1.
The bottom finisher in the 2017–18 Top 14 season, Brive was relegated to Pro D2. Oyonnax lost the Top 14/Pro D2 playoff and were therefore relegated.
Provence won the promotion group in the 2017–18 Fédérale 1 season; Bourg-en-Bresse won the play-offs for the second promotion place. Since the 2015–16 season, the promotion process has been separate from the play-offs for the traditional Fédérale 1 championship prize, Trophée Jean-Prat.

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,^[6] 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.^[7]

France's bonus point system operates as follows:^[8]

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.^[9]

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 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.

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:^[9]

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, LNR will create a third professional league, slotting between Pro D2 and Fédérale 1 in the league system.^[9]

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.

Fixtures & Results

Round 1

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Round 2

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Round 3

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Round 4

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Round 5

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Round 6

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Round 7

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Round 8

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Round 9

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Round 10

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Round 11

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Round 12

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Round 13

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Round 14

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Round 15

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Round 16

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Round 17

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Round 18

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Round 19

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Round 20

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Round 21

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Round 22

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Round 23

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Round 24

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Round 25

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Round 26

Massy are relegated.^[1]

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Round 27

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Round 28

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Round 29

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Round 30

Bourg-en-Bresse are relegated.^[2]

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Promotion Playoffs

Semi-final Qualifiers

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Semi-finals

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Final

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Relegation playoff

The team finishing in 13th place of the Top 14 faces the runner-up of Pro D2, with the winner of this match playing in the 2019–20 Top 14 and the loser in the 2019–20 Pro D2.

Attendances

Attendances do not include the final as this is held at a neutral venue. Also does not include the relegation playoff game.

Club	Home Games	Total	Average	Highest	Lowest	% Capacity
Aurillac	15	44,646	2,976	6,300	1,506	33%
Bayonne	16	145,008	9,063	16,207	7,207	54%
Béziers	15	82,053	5,470	7,591	2,867	29%
Biarritz	15	83,793	5,586	10,086	3,950	37%
Bourg-en-Bresse	15	87,245	5,816	9,853	4,137	51%
Brive	16	136,700	8,544	12,107	6,887	53%
Carcassonne	15	36,500	2,433	5,000	1,500	24%
Colomiers	15	60,200	4,013	5,000	3,200	35%
Massy	15	24,877	1,658	2,612	1,131	52%
Mont-de-Marsan	15	75,364	5,024	6,520	4,180	30%
Montauban	15	78,450	5,230	7,500	4,000	42%
Nevers	15	107,022	7,135	7,500	6,485	95%
Oyonnax	16	102,789	6,424	11,500	4,000	56%
Provence	15	70,594	4,706	6,000	3,500	81%
Soyaux Angoulême	15	84,500	5,633	8,000	3,000	70%
Vannes	16	119,996	7,500	9,169	6,499	79%

Leading scorers

Note: Flags to the left of player names indicate national team as has been defined under World Rugby eligibility rules, or primary nationality for players who have not yet earned international senior caps. Players may hold one or more non-WR nationalities.

Top points scorers

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Rank	Games	Points
1	27	314
2	28	277
3	29	272
4	26	271
5	27	209
6	20	198
6	25	198
7	21	186
9	22	183
10	25	180

Top try scorers