2014–15 Rugby Pro D2 season
| 2014–15 Pro D2 | |
|---|---|
| Countries |
 France
|
| Date | 23 August 2014 – 24 May 2015 |
| Champions | Pau |
| Promoted | Agen |
| Relegated | Dax, Massy |
| Matches played | 112 |
| Attendance | 199,262 (average 1,779 per match) |
| Tries scored | 178 (average 1.589 per match) |
| Top point scorer |
Gilles Bosch (Carcassonne) 180 points |
| Top try scorer |
Taleta Tupuloa (Montauban) & Rodney Davies (Biarritz) 6 tries |
| Official website | |
| www |
|
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← 2013–14
2015–16 →
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The 2014–15 Rugby Pro D2 was the second-level French rugby union club competition, behind the Top 14, for the 2014–15 season. It ran alongside the 2014–15 Top 14 competition; both competitions are operated by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR). The average team salaries at the outset of the 2014–15 season were €5.97m; Biarritz and Perpignan had the highest team salaries with €11.07m.
Changes in the lineup from 2013–14 were:
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 earns 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:
Normally, the teams that finish in 15th and 16th places in the table are relegated to Fédérale 1 at the end of the season. In certain circumstances, "financial reasons" may cause a higher-placed team to be demoted instead, or prevent one of the two finalists in Fédérale 1 from promotion.
This season saw an example of the latter situation. Following the 2014–15 season, 15th-place Dax was spared relegation after Fédérale 1 runner-up Lille was denied promotion due to excessive debt and failed in an appeal of the decision.
The last instance of a team outside the bottom two places being relegated was at the end of the 2011–12 season, when 9th-place Bourgoin were relegated, thereby reprieving 15th-place Béziers.
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