2010–11 Rugby Pro D2 season

Previous season

Main article: 2009–10 Rugby Pro D2 season

Agen, who had been a favorite for promotion ever since they were relegated at the end of the 2006–07 season, finally lived up to the expectations and dominated the championship from the start, finishing with an 11-point margin over second-placed Lyon and thus earning promotion to the 2010–11 Top 14 season. Lyon and La Rochelle made the most of the home ground advantage to qualify for the promotion final with victories over Pau and Oyonnax, respectively, and faced each other in the final. La Rochelle, despite having lost both confrontations against Lyon during the regular season, triumphed 32–26 and earned the right to accompany Agen in the Top 14 after eight years spent in Pro D2.

The two newly promoted teams, Aix-en-Provence and Lannemezan, were not able to rival the other teams and from early on in the season occupied the bottom two places that they were to keep until the end. Lannemezan in particular finished with only three wins out of thirty games (one of which against arch-rivals Tarbes), amounting to 19 points, the poorest record in the Pro D2 since the introduction of the bonus points.

However, in a new twist of events, Montauban, who were already relegated to Pro D2 for financial reasons (thus saving Bayonne's spot in the Top 14), failed their audit on June 10, and were further relegated to Fédérale 1. Their decision not to appeal the DNACG's ruling also meant that Aix would be reprieved and compete again in Pro D2 for the next year.

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 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 earned 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:

• 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

:{| class="wikitable" width="450px" style="float:left; font-size:95%; margin-left:15px;" |-

Results

Key

The score of the game is given by the middle (third and fourth) columns. The first and last columns indicate the number of tries scored by the home and the away team, respectively. A blue border indicates that the team has earned an attacking bonus point (i.e. has scored at least three more tries than its opponent), a yellow one that the team has earned a defensive bonus point (defeat by 7 points or less). If a team earns both bonus points, this will be indicated by a green border.

;; Round 2 4 and 5 September

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;; Round 4 18 and 19 September

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;; Round 6 9 and 10 October

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;; Round 8 23 and 24 October

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;; Round 10 6 and 7 November

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;; Round 12 27 and 28 November

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;; Round 14 11 and 12 December

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;; Round 16 8 and 9 January

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;; Round 18 22 and 23 January; 20 March

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;; Round 20 5 and 6 February

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;; Round 22 26 and 27 February

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;; Round 24 11 and 12 March

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;; Round 26 2 and 3 April

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;; Round 28 15 and 16 April

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;; Round 30 8 May

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Promotion playoffs

All times CEST.

Semi-finals

Vainqueur 95' m

Final

Lilo 65' m

Individual statistics

Top points scorers

Top try scorers

References

1. (2010-06-12). "Pays d'Aix: Le maintien et Laïrle dans le staff".
2. "Mort-auban!".
3. (2010-06-10). "Le MTG XV relégué en Fédérale".
4. (2007-06-27). "French try out new bonus point system". Planet-Rugby.com.
5. "Article 330, Section 3.2. Points "terrain"". [[Ligue Nationale de Rugby]].
6. (2011-05-14). "Albi – Mont-de-Marsan, Pro D2 (samedi 14 mai 2011), Fiche Match". [[L'Équipe]].
7. (2011-05-15). "Grenoble – Union Bordeaux-Bègles, Pro D2 (dimanche 15 mai 2011), Fiche Match". [[L'Équipe]].
8. (2011-05-22). "Albi – Union Bordeaux-Bègles, Pro D2 (dimanche 22 mai 2011), Fiche Match". [[L'Équipe]].
9. "Top scorers". It's Rugby.