2016–17 Rugby Pro D2 season
| 2016–17 Pro D2 | |
|---|---|
| Countries |
 France
|
| Date | 25 August 2016 – |
| Matches played | 16 |
| Official website | |
| www |
|
|
← 2015–16
2017–18 →
|
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The 2016–17 Rugby Pro D2 is the second-level French rugby union club competition, behind the Top 14, for the 2016–17 season. It runs alongside the 2016–17 Top 14 competition; both competitions are operated by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR).
Changes in the lineup from 2015–16 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:
The 2016–17 season will be the last for the current Pro D2 promotion system. From 2017–18 forward, Pro D2 will institute a playoff system identical to the one currently used in Top 14, with the top six teams qualifying for the playoffs and the top two teams receiving byes into the semifinals. The league championship and automatic promotion place will go to the winner of the playoffs; the runner-up will enter a playoff with the second-from-bottom Top 14 team, with the winner of that playoff taking up the final place in Top 14 for the following season.
The current table for the 2016–17 Rugby Pro D2 is:
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.
Note: Flags to the left of player names indicate national team as has been defined under World Rugby eligibility rules, or primary nationality for players who have not yet earned international senior caps. Players may hold one or more non-WR nationalities.
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