The 2022–23 División de Honor was the 56th season of the División de Honor, the top flight of Spanish domestic

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 ...

Valladolid Valladolid ( ; ) is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality in Spain and the primary seat of government and ''de facto'' capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also the capital of the pr ...

won its sixth title in seven years, its twelfth overall, defeating Aparejadores in the final.

Competition format

The season took place between October and May. Points were awarded as follows: * 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 Each team played twelve games - one game against each opponent. Then the league divided into two groups: the top six teams progressed to Group A and the remaining seven teams progressed to Group B. The teams played the other members of their groups once more, meaning Group A teams played a further five games and Group B teams play a further six. As before, eight teams qualified for the playoffs, meaning the top two teams from Group B went through along with the six teams from Group A. The division was made up of thirteen teams this season instead of the usual twelve after controversy during the 2021-22 season.

La Vila Villajoyosa (), in Valencian language, Valencian: (), meaning "The Joyful Town", and officially / , is a coastal town and municipality in the south of the Valencian Community, Spain, by the Mediterranean Sea. It is the historic and administra ...

and

Gernika Guernica (, ), officially Gernika () in Basque, is a town in the province of Biscay, in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country, Spain. The town of Guernica is one part (along with neighbouring Lumo) of the municipality of Gernika-Lumo ...

finished eleventh and twelfth in 2021-22, but

Alcobendas Alcobendas () is a municipality of Spain located in the Community of Madrid. It forms an urban continuum with the neighbouring municipality of San Sebastián de los Reyes. The affluent residential area of La Moraleja lies within the municipal l ...

were automatically relegated for fielding an ineligible player. This earned La Vila a reprieve from relegation. Initially,

were set to be relegated, but they argued that Alcobendas' point reduction meant the Madrid side technically finished bottom, and that they were therefore denied their rightful opportunity to play off against the runner-up from the Division B playoffs, Belenos RC. The Spanish Rugby Federation ruled that denying either team - Gernika or Belenos - a place in the top flight would be unfair. As the division had an extra team, two teams were automatically relegated (instead of one) and the team finishing eleventh contested a playoff against the runner-up from the División B playoffs.

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 playoff against the team which finishes 11th in the top flight.

Teams

were relegated while Pozuelo and Belenos RC were promoted. Gernika were given a reprieve despite finishing bottom of the table last year, meaning the division grew to 13 members.

Standings

First phase

Second phase

Group A Group B

Playoffs

Copa del Rey

The Copa del Rey's format was changed. The teams finishing in the top six after the first phase of the league qualified for the Copa del Rey. The team finishing third played the team finishing sixth, while the team finishing fourth faced the team finishing fifth.

Playoffs

The winners of these two games progressed to the semifinal draw with the top two.

Semifinals

The final was won by Valladolid in May, setting them on the path to a league and cup double.

Final

Relegation playoff

The relegation playoff was played over two legs by Pozuelo, the team finishing 10th in División de Honor, and Independiente, the losing team from División de Honor B promotion playoff final. Pozuelo won 170–46 on aggregate and retained their place in the División de Honor for the 2023–24 season.

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Division de Honor de Rugby Rugby union in Spain 2021-22