The 2011–12 Rugby Pro D2 was the second-level French rugby union club competition, behind the Top 14, for the 2011–12 season. It ran alongside the 2011–12 Top 14 competition; both competitions are operated by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR).
Grenoble claimed the automatic promotion spot as league champions, and Mont-de-Marsan earned the second promotion spot by winning a playoff among the next four teams. Béziers and Périgueux finished in the two bottom spots, which would normally lead to automatic relegation to Fédérale 1. However, Béziers were spared the drop when Bourgoin were forcibly relegated to Fédérale 1 for financial reasons.
Teams
ClubCityStadium Pays d'Aix RC Aix-en-Provence (Bouches-du-Rhône) Stade Maurice David SC Albi Albi (Tarn) Stadium Municipal d'Albi FC Auch Auch (Gers) Stade du Moulias Stade Aurillacois Aurillac (Cantal) Stade Jean Alric AS Béziers Hérault Béziers (Hérault) Stade de la Méditerranée Bourgoin-Jallieu Bourgoin-Jallieu (Isère) Stade Pierre Rajon US Carcassonne Carcassonne (Aude) Stade Albert Domec US Dax Dax (Landes) Stade Maurice Boyau FC Grenoble Grenoble (Isère) Stade Lesdiguières La Rochelle La Rochelle (Charente-Maritime) Stade Marcel-Deflandre Stade Montois Mont-de-Marsan (Landes) Stade Guy Boniface RC Narbonne Narbonne (Aude) Parc des Sports Et de l'Amitié Oyonnax Rugby Oyonnax (Ain) Stade Charles-Mathon Section Paloise Pau (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) Stade du Hameau CA Périgueux Périgueux (Dordogne) Stade Francis-Rongiéras Tarbes Pyrénées Rugby Tarbes (Hautes-Pyrénées) Stade Maurice Trélut
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 earned 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 7 points (or less).
Season table 2011–12 Rugby Pro D2 TableClubPlayedWonDrawnLostPoints forPoints againstDiffBonus pointsPointsHead-to-head 1 Grenoble 30 22 1 7 727 398 +329 15 105 2 Pau 30 19 1 10 602 536 +66 9 87 3 Stade Montois 30 19 0 11 569 453 +116 8 84 4 Dax 30 18 3 9 590 508 +82 6 84 5 La Rochelle 30 18 0 12 667 563 +104 9 81 6 Carcassonne 30 17 2 11 659 616 +43 9 81 7 Albi 30 14 0 16 659 616 +43 16 72 8 Oyonnax 30 14 1 15 594 589 +5 11 69 9 Bourgoin 30 14 0 16 620 671 −51 10 66 10 Auch 30 14 1 15 489 557 −68 7 65 11 Aix-en-Provence 30 12 1 17 658 681 −23 13 63 12 Tarbes 30 13 0 17 561 646 −85 9 61 13 Aurillac 30 12 2 16 570 610 −40 8 60 14 Narbonne 30 12 0 18 550 654 −104 11 59 15 Béziers 30 9 0 21 499 673 −174 10 46 16 Périgueux 30 7 0 23 516 713 −197 13 41
{| class="wikitable" width="450px" style="float:left; font-size:95%; margin-left:15px;" | colspan="2" style="text-align:center; background:#fff;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"|Key to colors |- | style="background: #3fff00;" | |Champions automatically promoted to Top 14 |- | style="background: #fde910;" | |Winner of playoffs between second- through fifth-place teams for the second promotion place |- | style="background:#ccf;"| |Remaining participants in promotion playoffs |- | style="background: #ff79B4;" | |Two teams relegated to Fédérale 1 – Bourgoin for financial reasons, and Périgueux as bottom finisher.
Updated as of 21 May 2012
Results
Results table The home team is listed in the left column.
Summary table of results Clubs AIX ALB AUC AUR BÉZ BOU CAR DAX GRE MDM NAR OYO PAU PÉR ROC TAR Aix35-2733-2318-1820-1323-2522-2629-3617-1524-1629-3639-1327-919-831-1739-32 Albi19-1614-1223-1034-641-1710-1333-919-1814-1535-2225-325-627-931-1535-29 Auch28-1015-920-1921-1325-1515-106-246-1315-914-1239-1714-1725-2221-2525-22 Aurillac19-2832-2520-2119-1336-1720-1526-146-626-1218-318-918-1915-935-1437-18 Béziers18-1618-1523-628-2018-1113-186-1511-1619-1127-2113-3520-3021-1326-3410-15 Bourgoin13-1947-1825-1029-159-333-3027-1223-29-23-2024-2321-2623-1618-2121-9Carcassonne24-2025-1922-1828-2147-4518-2534-2016-4325-306-1221-1934-1624-2028-1627-21 Dax25-1815-918-1824-1923-1128-1223-23-20-1321-1638-1427-924-1512-622-13 Grenoble39-955-1042-327-1347-1530-1317-1218-1622-1632-2624-924-1834-635-321-3 Mont-de-Marsan9-624-38-340-316-627-2220-1515-612-1628-1843-027-1626-022-1319-16 Narbonne16-932-259-1229-1220-1339-3212-1418-2212-409-1324-2015-621-1928-2229-14 Oyonnax31-1918-1915-1329-1243-1925-1213-1318-2223-634-1222-1626-043-725-1813-9 Pau31-2237-1416-340-2025-1626-1028-189-918-1624-1532-3-26-1417-1228-27 Périgueux39-3833-279-1122-1533-2618-257-3923-189-1119-2721-913-2016-2232-2021-22 La Rochelle35-325-634-2526-1622-333-1922-921-1318-1624-1554-1026-1613-623-1741-7 Tarbes22-2022-1932-2211-1218-2623-1616-2523-1615-915-1619-1317-618-1732-2621-15
Home win Draw Home defeat
Promotion playoffs All times CEST.
Semi-finals
Final
See also 2011–12 Top 14 season
References
External links Ligue Nationale de Rugby – Official website Midi Olympique Match Attd