The 2017–18 Rugby Pro D2 was the second-level French rugby union club competition, behind the Top 14, for the 2017–18 season. It ran alongside the 2017–18 Top 14 competition; both competitions are operated by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR).

Teams Club City Stadium Capacity Stade Aurillacois Cantal Auvergne Aurillac (Cantal) Stade Jean Alric 9,000 Aviron Bayonnais Bayonne (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) Stade Jean Dauger 16,934 AS Béziers Hérault Béziers (Hérault) Stade de la Méditerranée 18,500 Biarritz Olympique Biarritz (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) Parc des Sports Aguiléra 15,000 US Carcassonne Carcassonne (Aude) Stade Albert Domec 10,000 US Colomiers Colomiers (Haute-Garonne) Stade Michel Bendichou 11,400 US Dax Dax (Landes) Stade Maurice Boyau 16,170 FC Grenoble Grenoble (Isère) Stade des Alpes 20,068 RC Massy Massy (Essonne) Stade Jules-Ladoumègue 3,200 US Montauban Montauban (Tarn-et-Garonne) Stade Sapiac 12,600 Stade Montois Mont-de-Marsan (Landes) Stade Guy Boniface 22,000 RC Narbonne Narbonne (Aude) Parc des Sports Et de l'Amitié 12,000 USO Nevers Nevers (Nièvre) Stade du Pré Fleuri 7,500 USA Perpignan Perpignan (Pyrénées-Orientales) Stade Aimé Giral 16,600 Soyaux Angoulême XV Charente Angoulême (Charente) Stade Chanzy 6,000 Rugby Club Vannes Vannes (Morbihan) Stade de la Rabine 9,500

Changes in the lineup from 2016–17 were: Oyonnax won the 2016–17 Pro D2 title and were thereby automatically promoted to the Top 14. Agen won the promotion playoffs to secure the second promotion place. The two bottom finishers in 2016–17, Bourgoin and Albi, were relegated from Pro D2 to Fédérale 1. The two bottom finishers in the 2016–17 Top 14 season, Bayonne and Grenoble, were relegated to Pro D2. Massy won the promotion group in the 2016–17 Fédérale 1 season; Nevers 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.

Number of teams by regions Teams Region or country Team(s)6Béziers, Carcassonne, Colomiers, Montauban, Narbonne, and Perpignan5Bayonne, Biarritz, Dax, Mont-de-Marsan, and Soyaux Angoulême2Aurillac and Grenoble1Nevers Vannes Massy

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, 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.

France's bonus point system operates as follows:

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.

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) will change 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: 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.

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

Fixtures & Results Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Round 7

Round 8

Round 9

Round 10

Round 11

Round 12

Round 13

Round 14

Round 15

Round 16

Round 17

Round 18

Round 19

Round 20

Round 21

Round 22

Round 23

Round 24

Round 25

Round 26

Round 27

Round 28

Round 29

Round 30

Promotion Playoffs

Semi-final Qualifiers

Semi-finals

Final

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 Top 14 in 2018–19 and the loser in 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.

ClubHomeGamesTotalAverageHighestLowest% Capacity Aurillac 15 37,836 2,522 4,500 1,200 28% Bayonne 15 127,734 8,516 16,179 7,000 50% Béziers 15 91,398 6,093 10,300 4,500 33% Biarritz 15 84,616 5,641 11,500 4,200 38% Carcassonne 15 45,100 3,007 8,000 1,500 30% Colomiers 15 55,250 3,683 6,100 2,200 32% Dax 15 60,409 4,027 6,599 3,010 25% Grenoble 16 138,055 8,628 12,000 6,000 43% Massy 15 30,131 2,009 3,000 1,306 63% Mont-de-Marsan 16 96,379 6,024 9,000 4,122 27% Montauban 16 91,588 5,724 9,500 3,800 45% Narbonne 15 61,858 4,124 8,000 900 34% Nevers 15 94,758 6,317 7,500 4,896 84% Perpignan 16 148,097 9,256 14,466 7,356 56% Soyaux Angoulême 15 62,400 4,160 6,000 3,000 69% Vannes 15 112,039 7,469 9,162 6,216 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

Rank Player ClubGamesPoints 1 Jérôme Bosviel Montauban26278 2 Jonathan Bousquet Perpignan25276 3 Thomas Girard Massy23270 4 Pierre Bernard Biarritz27235 5 Joris Segonds Aurillac28222 6 Lucas Méret Soyaux Angoulême27206 7 David Mélé Grenoble29198 8 Christopher Hilsenbeck Vannes25178 9 Nicolas Cachet Dax26177 10 Ash Moeke Vannes25173

Top try scorers

Rank Player ClubGamesTries 1 Adriu Delai Biarritz2715 2 Gwénaël Duplenne Vannes 23 12 Kylan Hamdaoui Biarritz 25 12 3 Lolagi Visinia Grenoble2311 Jonathan Bousquet Perpignan2511 4 Uwanakoro Tawalo Biarritz1610 Nicolas Plazy Colomiers1910 Sabri Gmir Béziers2110 Julien Cabannes Mont-de-Marsan2210 5 Joeli Lutumailagi Vannes179 Mathieu Acebes Perpignan249 Jean-Bernard Pujol Perpignan249 Benoit Lazzarotto Carcassonne259 Andrea Cocagi Perpignan289 Vunga Lilo Montauban289

See also 2017–18 Top 14 season

Notes

References

External links Ligue Nationale de Rugby – Official website Midi Olympique