2021–22 Rugby Pro D2 season

The 2021–22 Rugby Pro D2 was the second-level French rugby union club competition, below the Top 14, for the 2021–22 season. It will run alongside the 2021–22 Top 14 competition; both competitions are operated by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR).

Teams

Club City Stadium Capacity Previous season Agen Agen (Lot-et-Garonne) Stade Armandie 13,863 Relegated from Top 14 (14th) Aurillac (Cantal) Stade Jean Alric 9,000 14th Bayonne Bayonne (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) Stade Jean Dauger 16,934 Relegated from Top 14 (lost playoff) Béziers Béziers (Hérault) Stade Raoul-Barrière 18,555 9th Bourg-en-Bresse Bourg-en-Bresse (Ain) Stade Marcel-Verchère 11,400 Promoted from 2020–21 Championnat Fédéral Nationale (champions and 1st in league) Carcassonne Carcassonne (Aude) Stade Albert Domec 10,000 11th Colomiers Colomiers (Haute-Garonne) Stade Michel Bendichou 11,430 1st Grenoble Grenoble (Isère) Stade des Alpes 20,068 3rd Mont-de-Marsan Mont-de-Marsan (Landes) Stade Guy Boniface 16,800 10th Montauban Montauban (Tarn-et-Garonne) Stade Sapiac 12,600 13th Narbonne Narbonne (Aude) Parc des Sports Et de l'Amitié 12,000 Promoted from 2020–21 Championnat Fédéral Nationale (won playoff and 4th in league) Nevers Nevers (Nièvre) Stade du Pré Fleuri 7,500 5th Oyonnax Oyonnax (Ain) Stade Charles-Mathon 11,500 4th Provence Stade Maurice David 6,000 12th Rouen Rouen (Seine-Maritime) Stade Jean-Mermoz 3,000 15th Vannes Vannes (Morbihan) Stade de la Rabine 9,500 Semi-finals (2nd in league)

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 2017–18 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.

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

Promotion playoffs

2021–22 Rugby Pro D2 season

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