2022–23 Rugby Pro D2 season

The 2022–23 Rugby Pro D2 was the second-level French rugby union club competition, below the Top 14, for the 2022–23 season. It will run alongside the 2022–23 Top 14 competition; both competitions are operated by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR).

2022–23 Pro D2
Countries	France
Date	26 August 2022 – 5 May 2023
Champions	Oyonnax (3rd title)
Official website
www.lnr.fr
← 2021–22 2023–24 →

Teams

Club City Stadium Capacity Previous season Agen Agen (Lot-et-Garonne) Stade Armandie 13,863 13th Aurillac Aurillac (Cantal) Stade Jean Alric 9,000 10th Biarritz Biarritz (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) Parc des Sports Aguiléra 15,000 Relegated from Top 14 (14th) Béziers Béziers (Hérault) Stade Raoul-Barrière 18,555 9th Carcassonne Carcassonne (Aude) Stade Albert Domec 10,000 5th Colomiers Colomiers (Haute-Garonne) Stade Michel Bendichou 11,430 6th Grenoble Grenoble (Isère) Stade des Alpes 20,068 12th Massy Massy (Essonne) Stade Jules-Ladoumègue 3,200 Promoted from 2021–22 Championnat Fédéral Nationale (champions and 1st in league) Mont-de-Marsan Mont-de-Marsan (Landes) Stade Guy Boniface 16,800 1st Montauban Montauban (Tarn-et-Garonne) Stade Sapiac 12,600 8th Nevers Nevers (Nièvre) Stade du Pré Fleuri 7,500 4th Oyonnax Oyonnax (Ain) Stade Charles-Mathon 11,500 3rd Provence Aix-en-Provence (Bouches-du-Rhône) Stade Maurice David 6,000 7th Rouen Rouen (Seine-Maritime) Stade Robert Diochon[a 1] 12,018 14th Soyaux Angoulême Angoulême (Charente) Stade Chanzy 8,000 Promoted from 2021–22 Championnat Fédéral Nationale (2nd in league) Vannes Vannes (Morbihan) Stade de la Rabine 9,500 11th

Agen Aurillac Béziers Biarritz Carcassonne Colomiers Grenoble Massy Mont-de-Marsan Montauban Nevers Oyonnax Provence Rouen Soyaux Angoulême Vannes Location of teams in the 2022–23 Rugby Pro D2

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

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	B	Pts
1	Oyonnax (C, P)	30	23	1	6	904	457	+447	17	111	Semi-final promotion playoff place
2	Grenoble	30	19	3	8	672	588	+84	8	87[a]
3	Mont-de-Marsan	30	19	0	11	764	649	+115	10	86	Quarter-final promotion playoff place
4	Nevers	30	17	3	10	718	551	+167	11	85
5	Vannes	30	17	1	12	718	633	+85	11	81
6	Agen	30	15	1	14	653	583	+70	15	77
7	Colomiers	30	15	0	15	674	678	−4	10	70
8	Provence	30	13	4	13	652	638	+14	9	69
9	Béziers	30	13	1	16	700	716	−16	11	65
10	Aurillac	30	15	0	15	586	706	−120	5	65
11	Biarritz	30	12	2	16	690	699	−9	8	60
12	Rouen	30	12	2	16	594	767	−173	6	58
13	Montauban	30	12	1	17	678	784	−106	6	54[a]
14	Soyaux Angoulême	30	11	0	19	569	697	−128	8	52
15	Carcassonne (R)	30	10	1	19	553	677	−124	10	52	Relegation to Nationale
16	Massy (R)	30	7	0	23	499	801	−302	5	33

Source: Pro D2
Rules for classification: When two teams have the same points total, position is determined by head-to-head results before points difference.
(C) Champion; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Grenoble were penalised three competition points, and Montauban were penalised two, for financial and administrative issues that made the clubs "non-compliant with the regulatory provisions and decisions of the CCCP".^[5][6]

Promotion playoffs

	Semi-final Qualifiers					Semi-finals					Final
						1	Oyonnax	26
	4	Nevers	17			5	Vannes	21
	5	Vannes	20								1	Oyonnax	14
											2	Grenoble	3
						2	Grenoble	36
	3	Mont-de-Marsan	37			3	Mont-de-Marsan	27
	6	Agen	24

See also

• 2022–23 Top 14 season

Notes

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