2023–24 División de Honor de Rugby explained

2023–24 División de Honor
Countries:	Spain
Date:	1 October 2023
Prevseason:	2022–23
Nextseason:	2024–25

The 2023–24 División de Honor is the 57th season of the División de Honor, the top flight of Spanish domestic rugby union.

Valladolid won its seventh title in eight years, its thirteenth overall, defeating local rivals El Salvador in the final.

Competition format

The season took place between October and May.

Points were awarded as follows:

• 4 points for a win
• 2 points for a draw
• 1 bonus point is awarded to a team scoring 4 tries or more in a match
• 1 bonus point is awarded to a team that loses a match by 7 points or fewer

Each team played twelve games - one game against each opponent. Then the league divided into two groups: the top six teams progressed to Group A and the remaining six teams progressed to Group B. The teams played the other members of their groups once more.

Eight teams progressed through to the playoffs, meaning the top two teams from Group B qualified along with the six teams from Group A.^[1]

Promotion and relegation

The second-tier División de Honor B is made up of three regional groups. The top eight teams across the three groups play off; the champion is promoted to División de Honor, at the expense of the team which finishes last in the División de Honor.

The runner-up plays a further playoff against the team which finishes 11th in the top flight.

Teams

Gernika RT and La Vila were relegated while Alcobendas were promoted.

Team	Stadium	Capacity	Location
Alcobendas	Las Terrazas	500	Alcobendas, Madrid
Aparejadores	San Amaro	1,500	Burgos, Castile and León
Belenos RC	Estadio Santa Bárbara	5,000	Avilés, Asturias
Ciencias	Instalaciones Deportivas La Cartuja	1,932	Seville, Andalusia
	Estadio Complutense	12,400	Madrid, Madrid
El Salvador	Pepe Rojo	5,000	Valladolid, Castile and León
FC Barcelona	La Teixonera	500	Barcelona, Catalonia
Les Abelles	Polideportivo Quatre Carreres	500
Ordizia	Altamira	500	Ordizia, Basque Country
Pozuelo	Valle de las Cañas	500	Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid
Santboiana	Baldiri Aleu	4,000	Sant Boi de Llobregat, Catalonia
Valladolid	Pepe Rojo	5,000	Valladolid, Castile and León

Results and standings

First phase

Aparejadores set the pace in the first phase of the season, winning ten games out of eleven and scoring more than 40 points on six occasions.

ALC

APA

BEL

CIE

CIS

ELS

FCB

LES

ORD

POZ

SAN

VAL

Alcobendas

—

44–38

43–34

28–29

29–30

31–23

Aparejadores

48–26

—

66–13

40–26

26–8

52–24

32–10

Belenos RC

23–26

—

45–28

30–20

32–36

0–31

Ciencias

22–28

25–20

—

31–14

25–25

29–19

14–19

Complutense Cisneros

41–21

14–22

—

16–21

32–39

24–3

El Salvador

33–5

—

30–10

50–20

17–17

0–27

FC Barcelona

17–45

40–37

26–38

39–15

—

17–22

13–30

Les Abelles

0–21

32–28

0–22

38–15

—

43–28

14–24

Ordizia

34–35

19–38

10–15

—

44–38

18–28

Pozuelo

5–45

34–0

12–57

22–42

7–26

—

13–24

Santboiana

10–19

16–15

34–19

45–42

30–13

—

Valladolid

7–0

24–31

31–10

47–8

34–0

43–20

—

The first phase concluded in January 2024, with five of the six teams which qualified for Group A being the same as 2022-23.

	style=min-width:9em	Team	P	W	D	L
1	Aparejadores	11	10	0	1	441	207	234	61	22	39	8	1	49
2	Valladolid	11	10	0	1	315	114	201	39	9	30	6	1	47
3	Ciencias	11	6	1	4	316	237	79	39	26	13	2	4	32
4	Alcobendas	11	6	0	5	288	283	5	35	39	-4	0	3	28
5	Santboiana	11	6	1	4	280	290	-10	29	31	-2	1	0	28
6	El Salvador	11	5	1	5	264	256	8	33	31	2	2	0	24
7	Complutense Cisneros	11	4	0	7	270	275	-5	30	37	-7	1	2	19
8	FC Barcelona	11	4	0	7	285	377	-92	39	46	-7	1	2	19
9	Ordizia	11	4	0	7	266	338	-78	19	36	-17	0	2	18
10	Les Abelles	11	4	1	6	197	267	-70	27	33	-6	0	0	16
11	Belenos RC	11	3	0	8	240	373	-133	30	51	-21	0	4	16
12	Pozuelo	11	2	0	9	190	335	-145	20	40	-20	1	0	9

	Qualified for Group A
	Qualified for Group B

Second phase

Group A

	style=min-width:10em	Team	P	W	D	L						+/-
1	Aparejadores	16	14	0	2	551	302	249	73	30	43	8	2	66
2	Valladolid	15	12	0	3	400	205	195	51	20	31	6	2	56
3	Ciencias	15	9	1	5	435	283	152	55	31	24	4	5	47
4	El Salvador	16	8	1	7	372	337	35	46	42	4	4	1	39
5	Alcobendas	16	7	0	9	367	395	-28	43	53	-10	0	5	34
6	Santboiana	16	7	1	8	338	424	-86	38	54	-16	1	2	33

Group B

	style=min-width:10em	Team	P	W	D	L						+/-
1	Complutense Cisneros	16	8	0	8	444	393	51	52	52	0	2	3	37
2	Les Abelles	16	7	1	8	304	377	-73	39	45	-6	0	2	30
3	Ordizia	16	6	0	10	392	453	-61	42	52	-10	1	4	29
4	Pozuelo	16	6	0	10	334	451	-117	35	54	-19	1	1	26
5	FC Barcelona	16	5	0	11	393	510	-117	50	61	-11	1	5	26
6	Belenos RC	16	4	0	12	348	548	-200	44	74	-30	0	5	21

	Qualified for playoff quarterfinals
	Relegation playoff
	Relegation to División de Honor B

Playoffs

The season climaxed with three extremely close games in the semifinals and final, with Valladolid prevailing over local rivals El Salvador to win their second consecutive title.

Relegation playoff

The relegation playoff was played over two legs by Barcelona, the team finishing 11th in División de Honor, and Ingenieros Industriales Las Rozas, the losing team from the División de Honor B promotion playoff final. Barcelona won the game 34-3, retaining their place in the División de Honor for the 2024–25 season.

Relegation Playoff

Copa del Rey

The Copa del Rey returned to its 2021-22 format; the twelve teams were divided into four groups of three and their league results counted towards the qualification for the cup.

Group A: Les Abelles, Pozuelo, Valladolid
Group B: Alcobendas, Barcelona, Aparejadores
Group C: Real Ciencias, Santboiana, Pasek Belenos
Group D: Ordizia, Complutense Cisnerosm El Salvador

Semifinals

The winner of each group proceeded to the semifinals of the cup, which were one-legged ties.

Final

The final was a rematch of the 2023 final, but was won this time by Aparejadores, who denied Valladolid a second consecutive double.

External links

• Official site

Notes and References

1. Web site: La División de Honor de rugby arrancará con 13 equipos y cambio de formato. sport.es . es . 28 September 2022.