2015–16 Rugby Pro D2 season

June 2016 2015–16 Pro D2 100px France 20 August 2015 – 4 June 2016http://www.lnr.fr/espace-medias-communiques-de-presse-cp-lnr-top-14-et-pro-d2-les-calendriers-2014-2015-16-05-2014-11-66-18447,18447.html CP LNR - TOP 14 et PRO D2, les calendriers 2014-2015 French LNR 16 May 2014 2 June 2014 Lyon Bayonne Provence, Tarbes 243 www.lnr.fr 2014–15 2016–17 The 2015–16 Rugby Pro D2 was the second-level French rugby union club competition, behind the Top 14, for the 2015–16 season. It ran alongside the 2015–16 Top 14 competition; both competitions are operated by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR). 2 Teams Club City Stadium Capacity Aviron Bayonnais Bayonne (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) Stade Jean Dauger 16,900 SC Albi Albi (Tarn) Stadium Municipal d'Albi 13,000 Stade Aurillacois Aurillac (Cantal) Stade Jean Alric 9,000 AS Béziers Hérault Béziers (Hérault) Stade de la Méditerranée 18,500 Biarritz Olympique Biarritz (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) Parc des Sports Aguiléra 15,000 CS Bourgoin-Jallieu Bourgoin-Jallieu (Isère) Stade Pierre Rajon 10,000 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 Lyon OU Lyon (Rhône) Matmut Stadium 11,800 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 USA Perpignan Perpignan (Pyrénées-Orientales) Stade Aimé Giral 16,600 Provence Rugby Aix-en-Provence (Bouches-du-Rhône) Stade Maurice David 4,000 Tarbes Pyrénées Rugby Tarbes (Hautes-Pyrénées) Stade Maurice Trélut 16,400 France 395 right Location of teams in Rugby Pro D2 2015–16 France 43.485469 -1.479289 Bayonne top France 43.93 2.15 Albi top France 44.93 2.44 Aurillac right France 43.33472 3.26611 Béziers right France 43.483333 -1.55 Biarritz left France 45.58961 5.28764 Bourgoin bottom France 43.21 2.35 Carcassonne bottom France 43.62 1.33 Colomiers right France 43.71 -1.06 Dax top France 45.766944 4.834167 Lyon right France 44.0181 1.3558 Montauban top France 43.895481 -0.482786 Mont-de-Marsan top France 43.18 3.00 Narbonne right France 42.715278 2.891389 Perpignan France 43.531127 5.454025 Provence Rugby right France 43.23 0.07 Tarbes bottom Changes in the lineup from 2014–15 were: Pau won the 2014–15 Pro D2 title and were thereby automatically promoted to the Top 14. Agen won the promotion playoffs to secure the second promotion place. The bottom finisher in 2014–15, Massy was relegated from Pro D2 to Fédérale 1. The two bottom finishers in the 2014–15 Top 14 season, Bayonne and Lyon OU, were relegated to Pro D2. The Fédérale 1 champion Provence Rugby 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,http://www.planet-rugby.com/Story/0,18259,3559_2450951,00.html French try out new bonus point system Planet-Rugby.com 27 June 2007 13 August 2007 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20070929120105/http://www.planet-rugby.com/Story/0%2C18259%2C3559_2450951%2C00.html 29 September 2007 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.http://www.lnr.fr/omm/upload/3%20-%20Titre%20II%20-%20Reglement%20sportif%202008%20-2009.pdf Article 330, Section 3.2. Points "terrain" Règlements de la Ligue Nationale de Rugby 2008/2009, Chapitre 2 : Règlement sportif du Championnat de France Professionnel LNR French 27 August 2008 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20120217084857/http://www.lnr.fr/omm/upload/3%20-%20Titre%20II%20-%20Reglement%20sportif%202008%20-2009.pdf 17 February 2012 France's bonus point system operates as follows:http://www.lnr.fr/IMG/pdf/Statuts_et_Reglements_LNR_2014-2015.pdf Article 330, Section 3.2. Points "terrain" et points de bonus Statuts et Reglements de la Ligue Nationale de Rugby 2014/2015, Chapitre 2 : Règlement sportif des championnats profesionnels Ligue Nationale de Rugby French 166 2014-08-26 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 main Rugby 2015–16 Rugby Pro D2 table n n PR LYO Lyon BAY Bayonne AUR Aurillac MdM Mont De Marsan COL Colomiers BÉZ Béziers PER Perpignan BIA Biarritz BOU Bourgoin ALB Albi NAR Narbonne MTB Montauban TAR Tarbes CAR Carcassonne DAX Dax PRO Provence Rugby 25 0 5 971 493 13 4 19 1 10 658 602 4 4 18 0 12 724 613 7 2 17 1 12 655 611 5 3 16 3 11 629 590 4 4 17 1 12 745 662 4 3 15 1 14 676 615 5 6 14 0 16 674 656 3 5 12 0 18 595 642 5 9 13 2 15 591 643 2 4 13 0 17 602 653 2 6 12 0 18 570 624 1 9 13 0 17 543 630 0 9 11 0 19 484 741 0 5 10 1 19 538 713 1 5 10 0 20 549 716 1 5 -8 Tarbes had 8 points deducted and were automatically relegated at the end of the season. green1 Champions automatically promoted to Top 14 C #fde910 Winner of the promotion play-offs P #ccccfd Qualify for the promotion play-offs Q Q Q #ffcccc Relegation to Fédérale 1 R R When two teams have the same points total, position is calculated by results between teams before points difference. complete 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 2015–16 season, 15th-place Dax was spared relegation after Pro D2 side Tarbes was relegated due to excessive debthttps://www.lequipe.fr/Rugby/Actualites/Aix-provence-relegue-en-fed-1/679765 Aix-en-Provence, dernier de ProD2, relégué en Fedérale 1 L'Équipe French 22 May 2016 5 September 2016 and failed in an appeal of the decision. Play–offs The highest ranked team at the end of the regular season, Lyon OU, earned automatic promotion to the Top 14 as champion de France de PRO D2 2016. Semi–finals The semi–finals followed a 2 v 5, 3 v 4 system, with the higher ranked team playing at home. 28 May 2016 18:00 Stade Aurillacois 28 – 13 Report Mont-de-Marsan Stade Jean Alric Salem Attalah 29 May 2016 14:00 Bayonne 28 – 16 Report Colomiers Stade Jean Dauger Maxime Chalon 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. 4 June 2016 16:15 Bayonne 21 – 16 Report Stade Aurillacois Moyano (7) 5', 11', 13', 22', 30', 37', 63' McPhee 78' c Petitjean (1/1) Petitjean (3) 16', 34', 52' Stade Ernest-Wallon, Toulouse Cyril Lafon See also 2015–16 Top 14 season References External links fr Ligue Nationale de Rugby – Official website fr Midi Olympique 2015–16 Pro D2