# 2023–24 Rugby Pro D2 season

The 2023–24 Rugby Pro D2 is the second-level French rugby union club competition, below the Top 14, for the 2023–24 season. It will run alongside the 2023–24 Top 14 competition; both competitions are operated by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR).

## Number of teams by regions

| Teams | Region or country | Team(s) |
| 6 | Nouvelle-Aquitaine | Agen, Biarritz, Brive, Dax, Mont-de-Marsan, Soyaux Angoulême |
| 3 | Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes | Aurillac, Grenoble, Valence Romans |
| 3 | Occitanie | Béziers, Colomiers, Montauban |
| 1 | Bourgogne-Franche-Comté | Nevers |
| 1 | Brittany | Vannes |
| 1 | Normandy | Rouen |
| 1 | Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur | Provence |

## Competition format

The regular season uses a double round-robin format, in which each team plays the others home and away.
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 5 points (or less). The required margin had been 7 points or less until being changed in advance of the 2014–15 season.
Starting with the 2017–18 season, Pro D2 conducts a play-off system identical to the one currently used in Top 14, with the top six teams qualifying for the play-offs and the top two teams receiving byes into the semi-finals. The winner of the play-offs earns the league championship and automatic promotion to the next season's Top 14; the runner-up enters a play-off with the second-from-bottom Top 14 team, with the winner of that play-off taking up the final place in Top 14.
This replaced the previous system in which the top team at the end of the regular season was declared champion, also earning a Top 14 place, while the second- through fifth-place teams competed in promotion play-offs. The play-off semi-finals were played at the home ground of the higher-ranked team. The final was then played on neutral ground, and the winner earned the second ticket to the next Top 14.

## Promotion
### Pro D2 to Top 14

As noted above, both promotion places will be determined by play-offs from 2017 to 2018 forward, with the winner of the Pro D2 play-offs earning promotion and the runner-up playing the second-from-bottom Top 14 team for the next season's final Top 14 place.

### Nationale to Pro D2

Starting with the 2021–22 season, the FFR created a third professional league, slotting between Pro D2 and Fédérale 1 in the league system called Nationale.

## Relegation

Normally, the teams that finish in 15th and 16th places in the table are relegated to Nationale at the end of the season. In certain circumstances, "financial reasons" may cause a higher-placed team to be demoted instead, or bar a Fédérale 1 team from promotion.

## Table

2023–24 Pro D2 Table :
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | TB | LB | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Provence | 30 | 20 | 2 | 8 | 803 | 632 | +171 | 8 | 3 | 95 | Semi-final promotion playoff place |
| 2 | Vannes | 30 | 17 | 2 | 11 | 777 | 508 | +269 | 10 | 7 | 89 | Semi-final promotion playoff place |
| 3 | Béziers | 30 | 17 | 1 | 12 | 789 | 715 | +74 | 6 | 4 | 80 | Quarter-final promotion playoff place |
| 4 | Grenoble | 30 | 19 | 0 | 11 | 826 | 694 | +132 | 8 | 3 | 79 | Quarter-final promotion playoff place |
| 5 | Dax | 30 | 17 | 1 | 12 | 626 | 683 | −57 | 5 | 2 | 77 | Quarter-final promotion playoff place |
| 6 | Brive | 30 | 16 | 1 | 13 | 689 | 583 | +106 | 8 | 2 | 76 | Quarter-final promotion playoff place |
| 7 | Nevers | 30 | 15 | 0 | 15 | 682 | 610 | +72 | 6 | 9 | 75 | |
| 8 | Mont-de-Marsan | 30 | 15 | 1 | 14 | 766 | 641 | +125 | 5 | 7 | 74 | |
| 9 | Aurillac | 30 | 14 | 1 | 15 | 593 | 764 | −171 | 3 | 3 | 64 | |
| 10 | Colomiers | 30 | 13 | 1 | 16 | 661 | 657 | +4 | 4 | 6 | 64 | |
| 11 | Valence Romans | 30 | 13 | 0 | 17 | 623 | 640 | −17 | 5 | 5 | 62 | |
| 12 | Soyaux Angoulême | 30 | 13 | 2 | 15 | 563 | 616 | −53 | 0 | 6 | 62 | |
| 13 | Agen | 30 | 13 | 1 | 16 | 597 | 732 | −135 | 2 | 5 | 61 | |
| 14 | Biarritz | 30 | 11 | 0 | 19 | 618 | 811 | −193 | 4 | 5 | 53 | |
| 15 | Montauban | 30 | 11 | 0 | 19 | 577 | 755 | −178 | 2 | 5 | 51 | Relegation play-off |
| 16 | Rouen | 30 | 9 | 1 | 20 | 604 | 753 | −149 | 5 | 5 | 48 | Relegation to Nationale |
* Competition points earned in head-to-head matches
* Points difference in head-to-head matches
* Try differential in head-to-head matches
* Points difference in all matches
* Try differential in all matches
* Points scored in all matches
* Tries scored in all matches
* Fewer matches forfeited
* Classification in the previous Top 14 season Notes:
* ↑ Following the decisions rendered by the Appeal Commission on July 6, 2023 and December 14, 2023 by the Disciplinary Council, a withdrawal of 12 points applies for FC Grenoble Rugby.The total sanction was reduced on appeal on 31 January 2024, recovering four points in the ranking.

## Relegation playoff

The team finishing in 15th place faces the runner-up of the Nationale, with the winner of this match playing in the 2024–25 Pro D2 and the loser in the 2024–25 Nationale.
* 2 June 2024 15:00
| Narbonne | 19–20 | Montauban |
| | Report | |
* Parc des Sports et de l'Amitié, Narbonne Attendance: 9,500 Referee: Pierre Bru

## Promotion playoffs

| Semi-final Qualifiers | Semi-final Qualifiers | Semi-final Qualifiers | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Final | Final | Final |
| | | | 1 | Provence | 22 | | | |
| 4 | Grenoble | 58 | 4 | Grenoble | 23 | | | |
| 5 | Dax | 10 | | | | 4 | Grenoble | 9 |
| | | | | | | 2 | Vannes | 16 |
| | | | 2 | Vannes | 27 | | | |
| 3 | Béziers | 33 | 3 | Béziers | 21 | | | |
| 6 | Brive | 31 | | | | | | |