Samiksha Jaiswal (Editor)

2014–15 Rugby Pro D2 season

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Countries
  
France

Promoted
  
Agen

Dates
  
23 Aug 2014 – 24 May 2015

Location
  
France

Attendance
  
199,262

Champions
  
Pau

Matches played
  
112

Champion
  
Section Paloise

Country
  
France

Relegated
  
US Dax, RC Massy

2014–15 Rugby Pro D2 season

Tries scored
  
178 (average 1.589 per match)

Top point scorer
  
Gilles Bosch (Carcassonne) 180 points

Similar
  
2014–15 Top 14 season, 2009–10 Rugby Pro D2 season, 2013–14 Top 14 season, 2011–12 Top 14 season, 2008–09 Top 14 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.

Contents

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, 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). This is a change from previous seasons, in which the margin was 7 points or less.

    • 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 and failed in an appeal of the decision.

    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.

    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.

    References

    2014–15 Rugby Pro D2 season Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA