The 2020–21 División de Honor is the 54th season of the División de Honor, the top flight of Spanish domestic rugby union.
Valladolid won its fifth consecutive title, its eleventh overall, defeating Alcobendas in the final.
Competition format
The División de Honor de Rugby season takes place between October and May. The COVID-19 pandemic delayed and affected the competition. Bathco withdrew from the competition due to financial issues, and were replaced with Les Abelles, who beat Hernani, the team which had finished in 12th place in the 2019-20 season, in a playoff.
The pandemic also meant the format for the 2020-21 tournament was altered:
Each team played each other once, with the top four teams qualifying for the Copa del Rey semifinals, played 1-2 May. The league then divided into two groups of six, based on the league table after 11 games. The results between the teams in each group were carried forward to the second stage, and they played each other again. The regular season was thus reduced to 16 games each instead of the usual 22. There were eight playoff positions instead of six, meaning the top two from the second group qualified along with all teams from the first group.
Points were awarded according to the following: 4 points for a win 2 points for a draw 1 bonus point for a team scoring 4 tries or more in a match 1 bonus point for a team that loses a match by 7 points or fewer
Promotion and relegation The second-tier División de Honor B is made up of three regional groups. The top eight teams across the three groups play off; the champion is promoted to División de Honor, at the expense of the team which finishes last in the División de Honor.
The runner-up plays a further play-off against the team which finishes 11th in the top flight.
Teams Team Stadium CapacityLocation AlcobendasLas Terrazas2,000Alcobendas, MadridAparejadoresSan Amaro1,000Burgos, Castile and LeónBarcelonaLa Teixonera500Barcelona, CataloniaCienciasInstalaciones Deportivas La Cartuja3,000Seville, AndalusiaComplutense Cisneros Estadio Complutense12,400Madrid, MadridEl SalvadorPepe Rojo5,000Valladolid, Castile and LeónGetxo Artea RTFadura1,000GuechoIndependiente San Román1,500Santander, CantabriaLes AbellesPolideportivo de Quatre Carreres500Valencia, Valencia OrdiziaAltamira2,000Ordizia, Basque CountrySantboianaBaldiri Aleu3,500Sant Boi de Llobregat, CataloniaValladolidPepe Rojo5,000Valladolid, Castile and León
Results ALCAPABARCIECISELSGETINDLESORDSANVALAlcobendas26-1547-327-1826-539-656-6Aparejadores31-2918-2931-2021-027-2439-22Barcelona33-1428-2947-1451-2118-12Ciencias19-3611-2831-313-286-35Cisneros18-128-2751-1836-1535-16El Salvador32-024-648-1937-2313-20Getxo5-5115-2614-1429-4614-38Independiente10-313-5521-2822-2625-3214-40Les Abelles17-624-2222-4218-3924-31Ordizia16-1039-528-1649-1436-1241-25Santboiana14-3161-3222-2153-1950-1925-29Valladolid19-2016-623-1633-1441-1732-19
Standings
First stage
Team P W D L +/- 1 Valladolid 11 10 0 1 326 164 162 42 17 25 6 1 47 2 Alcobendas 11 9 0 2 342 143 199 42 14 28 4 2 42 3 El Salvador 11 8 0 3 304 196 108 43 24 19 5 2 39 4 Ordizia 11 8 0 3 349 210 139 38 23 15 4 1 37 5 Aparejadores 11 8 0 3 315 199 116 42 24 18 5 0 37 6 FC Barcelona 11 7 0 4 296 222 74 40 24 16 4 2 34 7 Santboiana 11 5 0 6 331 308 23 45 41 4 3 2 25 8 Complutense Cisneros 11 4 0 7 252 264 -12 31 35 -4 2 1 19 9 Les Abelles 11 2 1 8 175 359 -184 23 52 -29 0 1 11 10 Independiente 11 1 0 10 196 412 -216 25 57 -32 1 3 8 11 Getxo 11 1 2 8 202 422 -220 25 61 -36 0 0 8 12 Ciencias 11 1 1 9 157 346 -189 20 44 -24 0 1 7
Qualified for Group 1 Qualified for Group 2
Second stage
Group 1
Team P W D L +/- 1 Alcobendas 10 8 0 2 246 164 82 25 16 9 1 2 35 2 Valladolid 10 7 0 3 222 194 28 23 17 6 1 2 31 3 El Salvador 10 5 0 5 226 219 7 26 25 1 1 1 22 4 Ordizia 10 4 0 6 219 244 -25 25 29 -4 1 3 20 5 FC Barcelona 10 3 0 7 261 287 -26 31 32 -1 1 4 17 6 Aparejadores 10 3 0 7 207 273 -66 21 32 -11 0 2 14
Group 2
Team P W D L +/- 1 Complutense Cisneros 10 9 0 1 335 196 139 41 24 17 3 1 40 2 Ciencias 10 5 1 4 237 233 4 30 27 3 1 2 25 3 Santboiana 10 5 0 5 306 281 25 41 35 6 3 2 25 4 Les Abelles 10 4 1 5 210 250 -40 25 32 -7 1 3 22 5 Independiente 10 3 0 7 221 265 -44 25 33 -8 1 5 18 6 Getxo Artea RT 10 2 2 6 228 312 -84 28 39 -11 0 2 14
Qualified for playoff quarterfinals Playoff against 2nd place team from División de Honor B Relegation to División de Honor B
Playoffs
Relegation playoff The relegation playoff was played by Independiente, the team finishing 11th in División de Honor, and Gernika, who lost the División de Honor B promotion playoff final 26-22 to La Vila.
Gernika won 34–21 and gained promotion to the División de Honor for the 2021–22 season.
References
External links Official site