The 2011–12

Rugby Pro D2 The Pro D2 is the second tier of rugby union club competition division in France. It is operated by Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR) which also runs the division directly above, the first division Top 14. Rugby Pro D2 was introduced in 2000. It ...

was the second-level French

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

club competition, behind the

Top 14 The Top 14 () is a professional rugby union club competition that is played in France. Created in 1892, the Top 14 is at the top of the national league system operated by the National Rugby League (France), France National Rugby League, also ...

, for the 2011–12 season. It ran alongside the 2011–12 Top 14 competition; both competitions are operated by the

Ligue Nationale de Rugby The National Rugby League (, LNR) manages the professional rugby union clubs in France, by delegation of the Minister of Sports and the French Rugby Federation. It organises and regulates the two French rugby club divisions, Top 14 and Pro D2, p ...

(LNR).

Grenoble Grenoble ( ; ; or ; or ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of the Isère Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region ...

claimed the automatic promotion spot as league champions, and

Mont-de-Marsan Mont-de-Marsan (; Gascon dialect, Occitan: ''Lo Mont de Marçan'') is a communes of France, commune and capital of the Landes (department), Landes Departments of France, department, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, southwestern France. Population Milit ...

earned the second promotion spot by winning a playoff among the next four teams.

Béziers Béziers (; ) is a city in southern France. It is a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Hérault Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region. Every August Béziers ho ...

and

Périgueux Périgueux (, ; or ) is a commune in the Dordogne department, in the administrative region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, southwestern France. Périgueux is the prefecture of Dordogne, and the capital city of Périgord. It is also the seat of ...

finished in the two bottom spots, which would normally lead to automatic relegation to

Fédérale 1 The championnat de France de rugby à XV de 1re division fédérale (), a.k.a. Fédérale 1 (), is a French rugby union club competition, it is the elite of amateur rugby in France. The competition has been organised by the Fédération Français ...

. However, Béziers were spared the drop when Bourgoin were forcibly relegated to Fédérale 1 for financial reasons.

Teams

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

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

. 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

: Updated as of 21 May 2012

Results

Results table

The home team is listed in the left column.

Promotion playoffs

All times CEST.

Semi-finals

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Final

References

External links

*
Ligue Nationale de Rugby
– Official website *
Midi Olympique
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pro D2 season 2011-12

Pro D2 The Pro D2 is the second tier of rugby union club competition division in France. It is operated by Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR) which also runs the division directly above, the first division Top 14. Rugby Pro D2 was introduced in 2000. It ...