2014–15 Rugby Pro D2 season
The 2014–15 Rugby Pro D2 was the second-level French rugby union club competition, behind the Top 14, for the 2014–15 season. It ran alongside the 2014–15 Top 14 competition; both competitions are operated by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR). The average team salaries at the outset of the 2014–15 season were €5.97m; Biarritz and Perpignan had the highest team salaries with €11.07m.[4]
| 2014–15 Pro D2 | |
|---|---|
| Countries |  |
| Date | 23 August 2014 – 24 May 2015[1] |
| Champions | Pau |
| Promoted | Agen |
| Relegated | Massy |
| Matches played | 112 |
| Attendance | 199,262 (average 1,779 per match) |
| Tries scored | 178 (average 1.6 per match) |
| Top point scorer | Gilles Bosch (Carcassonne) 180 points[2] |
| Top try scorer | Taleta Tupuloa (Montauban) & Rodney Davies (Biarritz) 6 tries[3] |
| Official website | |
| www | |
Teams
Changes in the lineup from 2013–14 were:
- Lyon won the 2013–14 Pro D2 title and were thereby automatically promoted to the Top 14. La Rochelle won the promotion playoffs to secure the second promotion place.
- The bottom two finishers in 2013–14, Bourg-en-Bresse and Auch, were relegated from Pro D2 to Fédérale 1.
- The two bottom finishers in the 2013–14 Top 14 season, Perpignan and Biarritz Olympique, were relegated to Pro D2.
- The two finalists in Fédérale 1, champion Montauban and runner-up Massy, earned promotion.
Competition format
The top team at the end of the regular season (after all the teams played one another twice, once at home, once away), is declared champion and earns a spot in the next Top 14 season. Teams ranked second to fifth compete in promotion playoffs, with the semifinals being played at the home ground of the higher-ranked team. The final is then played on neutral ground, and the winner earns the second ticket to the next Top 14.
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,[5] 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.[6]
France's bonus point system operates as follows:[7]
- 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). This is a change from previous seasons, in which the margin was 7 points or less.
Table
| |||||||||||||||||
| Club | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Points For | Points Against | Points Difference | Try Bonus | Losing Bonus | Points | |||||||
| 1 | Pau | 30 | 20 | 1 | 9 | 754 | 530 | +224 | 10 | 2 | 94 | ||||||
| 2 | Mont-de-Marsan | 30 | 18 | 0 | 12 | 676 | 531 | +145 | 4 | 7 | 83 | ||||||
| 3 | Perpignan | 30 | 17 | 1 | 12 | 744 | 615 | +129 | 7 | 5 | 82 | ||||||
| 4 | Agen | 30 | 17 | 0 | 13 | 732 | 611 | +121 | 7 | 6 | 81 | ||||||
| 5 | Albi | 30 | 18 | 0 | 12 | 651 | 606 | +45 | 2 | 6 | 80 | ||||||
| 6 | Aurillac | 30 | 16 | 2 | 12 | 650 | 579 | +71 | 6 | 3 | 77 | ||||||
| 7 | Biarritz | 30 | 17 | 0 | 13 | 647 | 580 | +67 | 6 | 3 | 77 | ||||||
| 8 | Colomiers | 30 | 16 | 0 | 14 | 635 | 632 | +3 | 1 | 4 | 69 | ||||||
| 9 | Carcassonne | 30 | 15 | 0 | 15 | 688 | 706 | –18 | 2 | 4 | 66 | ||||||
| 10 | Montauban | 30 | 13 | 1 | 16 | 627 | 638 | –11 | 5 | 5 | 64 | ||||||
| 11 | Béziers | 30 | 14 | 0 | 16 | 620 | 655 | –35 | 2 | 5 | 63 | ||||||
| 12 | Tarbes | 30 | 13 | 2 | 15 | 635 | 750 | −115 | 0 | 6 | 62 | ||||||
| 13 | Bourgoin | 30 | 11 | 3 | 16 | 548 | 652 | –104 | 2 | 4 | 52 | ||||||
| 14 | Narbonne | 30 | 11 | 1 | 18 | 604 | 746 | −142 | 1 | 3 | 50 | ||||||
| 15 | Dax | 30 | 10 | 1 | 19 | 518 | 687 | −169 | 1 | 4 | 47 | ||||||
| 16 | Massy | 30 | 8 | 0 | 22 | 643 | 854 | −211 | 1 | 8 | 41 | ||||||
| Green background (row 1) Champions automatically promoted to Top 14. Yellow background denotes winner of the promotion play-offs. Blue background denotes teams that qualified for the promotion play-offs. Red background (row 16) was relegated to Fédérale 1. Dax, which finished in 15th, was spared relegation when Fédérale 1 runner-up Lille was denied promotion. Updated: 21 August 2015 | |||||||||||||||||
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 prevent one of the two finalists in Fédérale 1 from promotion.
This season saw an example of the latter situation. Following the 2014–15 season, 15th-place Dax was spared relegation after Fédérale 1 runner-up Lille was denied promotion due to excessive debt[8] and failed in an appeal of the decision.[9]
The last instance of a team outside the bottom two places being relegated was at the end of the 2011–12 season, when 9th-place Bourgoin were relegated, thereby reprieving 15th-place Béziers.
Fixtures
The outline fixtures schedule was announced on 16 May 2014.[1][10]
Round 1
23 August 2014 18:30 |
| Béziers | 31 – 27 | Agen (BP) |
|---|---|---|
| Stats |
Stade de la Méditerranée Attendance: 5,560 Referee: David Rosich |
Round 2
30 August 2014 18:30 |
| Béziers | 41 – 17 | Tarbes |
|---|---|---|
| Stats |
Stade de la Méditerranée Attendance: 5,575 Referee: Stéphane Boyer |
Round 3
6 September 2014 18:30 |
| (BP) Massy | 16 – 19 | Albi |
|---|---|---|
| Stats |
Stade Jules Ladournègue Attendance: 1,530 Referee: Thomas Charabas |
Round 4
13 September 2014 18:30 |
| (BP) Béziers | 22 – 23 | Pau |
|---|---|---|
| Stats |
Stade de la Méditerranée Attendance: 5,878 Referee: Flavien Hourquet |
Round 5
20 September 2014 18:30 |
| Massy | 27 – 25 | Bourgoin (BP) |
|---|---|---|
| Stats |
Stade Jules-Ladournègue Attendance: 1,625 Referee: Vincent Blasco-Baqué |
Round 6
Round 7
Round 8
Round 9
Round 10
Round 11
15 November 2014 18:00 |
| (BP) Béziers | 14 – 19 | Aurillac |
|---|---|---|
| Stats |
Stade de la Méditerranée Referee: Jerome Lamirand |
16 November 2014 15:05 |
| Carcassonne | 17 – 28 | Mont-de-Marsan |
|---|---|---|
| Stats |
Stade Albert-Domec Referee: Pierre Brousset |
Round 12
Round 13
29 November 2014 18:30 |
| Béziers | 16 – 12 | Carcassonne (BP) |
|---|---|---|
| Stats |
Stade de la Méditerranée Referee: Thomas Charabas |
Round 14
Weekend of 13 December 2014
Round 15
Weekend of 20 December 2014
Round 16
Weekend of 10 January 2015
Round 17
Weekend of 17 January 2015
Round 18
Weekend of 24 January 2015
Round 19
Weekend of 31 January 2015
Round 20
Weekend of 7 February 2015
Round 21
Weekend of 21 February 2015
Round 22
Weekend of 28 February 2015
Round 23
Weekend of 7 March 2015
Round 24
Weekend of 14 March 2015
Round 25
Weekend of 28 March 2015
Round 26
Weekend of 4 April 2015
Round 27
Weekend of 11 April 2015
Round 28
Weekend of 25 April 2015
Round 29
Weekend of 2 May 2015
Round 30
Weekend of 9 May 2015
Play–offs
The highest ranked team at the end of the regular season, Pau, earned automatic promotion to the Top 14 as champion de France de PRO D2 2015.
Semi–finals
The semi–finals followed a 2 v 5, 3 v 4 system, with the higher ranked team playing at home.
- Under LNR rules, if a playoff match ends level after full-time, the first tiebreaker is try count. Agen advanced with 4 tries to Perpignan's 2.
Final
The winners of the semi–finals played off for the second promotion spot to the Top 14.
See also
References
- "CP LNR - TOP 14 et PRO D2, les calendriers 2014-2015" (in French). LNR. 16 May 2014. Retrieved 2 June 2014.
- "Statistiques générales, Saison 2014-2015" (in French). Ligue nationale de rugby. Archived from the original on 2013-08-06. Retrieved 5 October 2014. Click on the tabs for "Joueurs" and "Meilleurs réalisateurs".
- "Statistiques générales, Saison 2014-2015" (in French). Ligue nationale de rugby. Archived from the original on 2013-08-06. Retrieved 5 October 2014. Click on the tabs for "Joueurs" and "Meilleurs marqueurs".
- "Toulouse top budget charts in Top 14 with €35m", ESPNscrum. August 19, 2014.
- "French try out new bonus point system". Planet-Rugby.com. 27 June 2007. Archived from the original on 29 September 2007. Retrieved 13 August 2007.
- "Article 330, Section 3.2. Points "terrain"" (PDF). Règlements de la Ligue Nationale de Rugby 2008/2009, Chapitre 2 : Règlement sportif du Championnat de France Professionnel (in French). LNR. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 February 2012. Retrieved 27 August 2008.
- "Article 330, Section 3.2. Points "terrain" et points de bonus" (PDF). Statuts et Reglements de la Ligue Nationale de Rugby 2014/2015, Chapitre 2 : Règlement sportif des championnats profesionnels (in French). Ligue Nationale de Rugby. p. 166. Retrieved 2014-08-26.
- "La montée de Lille refusée". L'Équipe (in French). 23 June 2015. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
- "Décisions du Comité Directeur de la LNR du 21 août 2015" (PDF) (Press release) (in French). LNR. 21 August 2015. Retrieved 21 August 2015.
- "Calendrier 2014/2015" (PDF) (in French). LNR. 16 May 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 July 2014. Retrieved 2 June 2014.
External links
- (in French) Ligue Nationale de Rugby – Official website
- (in French) Midi Olympique