What you need to know about The Pro D2

The Pro D2 is the second tier of club rugby in France and was first introduced in 2000. With the first matches kicking off this Friday, lets break it down for you.

Season structure

There are 30 rounds in the regular season, with each team playing each other home and away.

There is relegation and promotion between both the Top 14 and Nationale, the third-level competition.

The top two clubs at the end of the season qualify automatically for home semi-finals, with the clubs placed 3rd through to 6th playing in an elimination round to advance to the semi-finals. 

The two winners of the semi-final play each other in the final, with the winner gaining promotion to the Top 14, and the losing finalist then going on to play the 13th placed team in the Top 14 in a promotion-relegation match.

The bottom placed (16th) team is automatically relegated to the Nationale division, and the 15th placed team plays the losing finalist from the Nationale division in a promotion-relegation match.

Previous champions

2001-2002 Mont-de-Marsan

2002-2003 Montpellier

2003-2004 Auch

2004-2005 Toulon

2005-2006 Montauban

2006-2007 Auch

2007-2008 Toulon

2008-2009 Racing Metro

2009-2010 Agen

2010-2011 Lyon

2011-2012 Grenoble

2012-2013 Oyonnax

2013-2014 Lyon

2014-2015 Pau

2015-2016 Lyon

2016-2017 Oyonnax

2017-2018 Perpignan

2018-2019 Bayonne

2019-2020 No Matches due to Covid

2020-2021 Perpignan

2021-2022 Bayonne

2022-2023 Oyonnax

2023-2024 RC Vannes

2024-2025 Round 1 Fixtures

The Pro D2