2018–19 Rugby Pro D2 season

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. 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. Massy and Bourg-en-Bresse drop to Fédérale 1.

The promotion play-off final was contested between Brive, who finished first in the league stage, and Bayonne, who finished third. Having topped the league stage, Brive were slight favourites to make an immediate return to the Top 14. However, Bayonne had already won two difficult matches, including a memorable 38–34 away victory in the semi-final against league runners-up Oyonnax. Like Brive, Oyonnax had hoped to make an immediate return to the Top 14. In the final, held at the Stade du Hameau in Pau, Bayonne narrowly won 21–19 to claim their first Pro D2 title and return to the Top 14 after a two-season absence.

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

Massy are relegated.

Round 27

Round 28

Round 29

Round 30

Bourg-en-Bresse are relegated.

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 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.

ClubHomeGamesTotalAverageHighestLowest% 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

Rank Player ClubGamesPoints 1 Thomas Laranjeira Brive 27 314 2 Gilles Bosch Carcassonne 28 277 3 Maxime Lucu Biarritz 29 272 4 Jérôme Bosviel Montauban 26 271 5 Christopher Hilsenbeck Vannes 27 209 6 Florent Massip Provence 20 198 Ben Botica Oyonnax 25 198 7 Jérôme Porical Béziers 21 186 9 Yoann Laousse Azpiazu Mont-de-Marsan 22 183 10 Joris Segonds Aurillac 25 180

Top try scorers

Rank Player ClubGamesTries 1 Josaia Raisuqe Nevers 22 15 2 Dug Codjo Oyonnax 29 12 3 Thomas Bordes Massy 26 10 Quentin MacDonald Oyonnax 26 10 4 Leone Ravuetaki Biarritz 14 9 Sakiusa Bureitakiyaca Soyaux Angoulême 23 9 Tim Giresse Oyonnax 24 9 Eroni Vasiteri Provence 26 9 5 Uwanakoro Tawalo Biarritz 20 8 Ben Botica Oyonnax 25 8 Yohann Artru Biarritz 26 8 Sevanaïa Galala Brive 28 8 Anthony Bouthier Vannes 30 8

2018–19 Rugby Pro D2 season

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