2007–08 Rugby Pro D2 season

2007–08 Rugby Pro D2 season
Countries	France
Champions	Toulon
Promoted	Toulon Mont-de-Marsan
Relegated	Blagnac USA Limoges
Matches played	243
Tries scored	744 (average 3.062 per match)
Top try scorer	Florian Ninard (13)
← 2006–07 2008–09 →

The 2007-08 Rugby Pro D2 was a French rugby union club competition. The season ran alongside the 2007-08 Top 14 competition, which is the highest club competition. Both competitions were operated by the Ligue nationale de rugby (LNR).

At the end of the previous season, Auch were champions and thus automatically promoted to Top 14. They were eventually followed by Dax who beat La Rochelle in the final providing the second promotion place. Colomiers were relegated to Fédérale 1; Limoges finished in a relegation spot, but were reprieved when Gaillac were denied a professional license for the 2007-08 season due to serious financial problems. Aurillac and Blagnac earned promotion from Fédérale 1.

The new season showed a bright future for two particular clubs who signed several quality players in the transfer market in hopes of promotion at the end of the season. Some notables include George Gregan, Victor Matfield, Andrew Mehrtens and Anton Oliver who all signed with Toulon. The team also signed former All Black and Toulon player Tana Umaga as their Manager Sportif. Meanwhile, Sireli Bobo, Carlo Festuccia and Argentine captain Agustín Pichot moved to Racing Métro. Pichot's move wasn't a long distance one since he was simply switching from one Parisian team to the other.

Toulon jumped to an early lead on the ladder and never looked back, ultimately clinching the title and automatic promotion with two rounds to spare. Mont-de-Marsan won the promotion playoffs, defeating Racing Métro in the final, to secure the second promotion place. At the other end of the table, Limoges and Blagnac finished in the relegation places. Unlike the previous season, when Limoges were spared relegation due to the financial woes of Gaillac, all of the clubs above the bottom two places passed their required postseason financial audits, ensuring that both of the bottom two teams would go down.

This season, LNR trialled a modification to the bonus point system in both the Top 14 and Pro D2. The system being used this season was:^[1]

• 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).

This system was explicitly intended to prevent a losing team from earning two bonus points, as is possible under the standard system.^[1]

Season table

Key to colors
	Champions automatically promoted to Top 14
	Winner of playoffs between second- through fifth-place teams for the second promotion place
	Remaining participants in promotion playoffs
	Bottom two teams are relegated to Fédérale 1. Blagnac was later relegated further, to Fédérale 2, due to financial issues.

2007-08 Rugby Pro D2 Table
	Club	Total points	Bonus points	Match points	Games	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points for	Points against	Diff
1	Toulon	106	16	90	30	22	1	7	873	495	+378
2	Racing Métro	99	13	86	30	21	1	8	683	426	+257
3	Mont-de-Marsan	89	7	82	30	19	3	8	582	488	+94
4	Lyon	83	15	68	30	17	0	13	604	424	+180
5	La Rochelle	81	13	68	30	17	0	13	540	443	+97
6	Béziers	81	9	72	30	17	2	11	556	505	+51
7	Agen	81	9	72	30	17	2	11	575	430	+145
8	Grenoble	77	9	68	30	16	2	12	506	454	+52
9	Oyonnax	73	9	64	30	16	0	14	612	545	+67
10	Pau	69	13	56	30	14	0	16	533	576	−43
11	Aurillac	66	10	56	30	14	0	16	609	691	−82
12	Bordeaux-Bègles	61	11	50	30	12	1	17	468	526	−58
13	Narbonne	57	7	50	30	12	1	17	503	626	−123
14	Tarbes	45	11	34	30	8	1	21	428	705	−277
15	Limoges	31	7	24	30	5	2	23	340	791	−451
15	Blagnac	27	7	20	30	4	2	24	469	756	−287

Results

Round 1 Saturday 27 and Sunday 38 october 41 Toulon Béziers 7 18 Aurillac Stade Montois 26 22 Grenoble Tarbes 16 16 La Rochelle Oyonnax 10 22 Racing Métro 92 LOU 17 26 Pau Bordeaux-Bégles 17 20 SU Agen Blagnac 9 19 Limoges Narbonne 26

Round 2 Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 november 19 Stade Montois La Rochelle 9 29 Béziers Grenoble 5 17 Tarbes Racing Métro 92 22 28 Oyonnax Pau 13 39 LOU Limoges 5 15 Bordeaux-Bégles SU Agen 22 5 Blagnac Toulon 16 6 Narbonne Aurillac 17

Round 3 Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 november 29 Narbonne SU Agen 10 21 Grenoble Stade Montois 16 29 La Rochelle Béziers 21 48 Aurillac Tarbes 3 30 Toulon Oyonnax 15 20 Pau LOU 9 21 Racing Métro 92 Bordeaux-Bégles 18 9 Limoges Blagnac 9

Round 4 Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 november 34 Tarbes Toulon 39 26 Béziers Pau 19 22 Stade Montois Racing Métro 11 28 Oyonnax Aurillac 20 6 LOU Grenoble 3 12 Bordeaux-Bégles La Rochelle 11 12 Blagnac Narbonne 19 62 SU Agen Limoges 0

Round 5 Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 november 15 SU Agen Béziers 12 15 Limoges Stade Montois 14 19 Pau Tarbes 7 19 Racing Métro 92 Oyonnax 10 29 Aurillac LOU 21 37 Toulon Bordeaux-Bégles 7 28 La Rochelle Blagnac 11 12 Narbonne Grenoble 23

Round 6 Saturday 1 and Sunday 2 december 23 Tarbes Narbonne 19 17 Béziers Limoges 10 19 Stade Montois SU Agen 9 45 Oyonnax Blagnac 6 11 LOU La Rochelle 15 42 Grenoble Bordeaux-Bégles 6 35 Toulon Pau 10 15 Aurillac Racing Métro 92 9

Round 7 Saturday 8 and Sunday 9 december 13 Grenoble Toulon 13 8 Narbonne Béziers 20 9 Blagnac Stade Montois 19 6 Limoges Tarbes 3 16 SU Agen Oyonnax 3 9 Bordeaux-Bégles LOU 12 6 Pau Racing Métro 92 11 28 La Rochelle Aurillac 10

Round 8 Saturday 15 december and Sunday 9 march 30 La Rochelle Pau 6 27 Béziers Blagnac 15 14 Stade Montois Narbonne 10 19 Tarbes Bordeaux-Bégles 6 25 Oyonnax LOU 21 64 Toulon Limoges 10 23 Aurillac SU Agen 11 28 Racing Métro 92 Grenoble 13

Round 9 Saturday 22 december, Sunday 23 december, Saturday 8 March* and Sunday 20 April** 24 Racing Métro 92 ** La Rochelle 6 18 Oyonnax * Béziers 16 33 SU Agen Toulon 0 12 Tarbes Stade Montois 12 15 LOU Narbonne 12 36 Bordeaux-Bégles Blagnac 13 16 Limoges Aurillac 23 22 Grenoble Pau 13

Round 10 Saturday 5 january and Sunday 6 january 20 Pau SU Agen 26 6 Béziers Bordeaux-Bégles 3 22 Stade Montois Oyonnax 6 37 LOU Tarbes 0 18 Blagnac Aurillac 19 9 Narbonne Racing Métro 92 6 27 Grenoble Limoges 18 36 Toulon La Rochelle 0

Round 11 Saturday 12 january and Sunday 13 january 18 Aurillac Grenoble 16 7 Tarbes Béziers 11 19 Stade Montois LOU 10 33 Bordeaux-Bégles Oyonnax 16 17 Blagnac Pau 19 21 Toulon Narbonne 20 29 Racing Métro 92 Limoges 0 17 La Rochelle SU Agen 6

Round 12 Saturday 19 january and Sunday 20 january 12 Grenoble La Rochelle 3 6 SU Agen Racing Métro 92 13 21 Béziers Stade Montois 21 39 Oyonnax Tarbes 12 36 LOU Blagnac 11 9 Bordeaux-Bégles Narbonne 16 16 Limoges Pau 19 14 Aurillac Toulon 23

Round 13 Saturday 26 january and Sunday 27 january 15 Racing Métro 92 Toulon 21 17 Blagnac Grenoble 29 14 Tarbes Grenoble 16 10 Stade Montois Bordeaux-Bégles 6 15 LOU Béziers 6 25 Narbonne Oyonnax 10 11 Limoges La Rochelle 15 19 Pau Aurillac 17

Round 14 Saturday 2 february and Sunday 3 february 9 Grenoble SU Agen 3 16 Béziers Racing Métro 92 16 9 Pau Stade Montois 13 20 Blagnac Tarbes 15 40 Oyonnax Limoges 6 14 Bordeaux-Bégles Aurillac 12 16 Toulon LOU 6 19 La Rochelle Narbonne 0

Round 15 Saturday 9 february and Sunday 10 february 9 Tarbes La Rochelle 32 37 Racing Métro 92 Blagnac 21 16 Stade Montois Toulon 12 31 Aurillac Toulon 32 20 Oyonnax Grenoble 12 24 SU Agen LOU 20 19 Limoges Bordeaux-Bégles 10 14 Narbonne Pau 8

Round 16 Saturday 16 february and Sunday 17 february 24 Béziers Toulon 23 15 Blagnac SU Agen 12 52 Stade Montois Aurillac 13 19 Tarbes Grenoble 3 12 Oyonnax La Rochelle 9 9 LOU Racing Métro 92 13 16 Bordeaux-Bégles Pau 6 26 Narbonne Limoges 10

Round 17 Saturday 23 february and Sunday 24 february 23 La Rochelle Stade Montois 12 60 Racing Métro 92 Tarbes 7 26 Aurillac Narbonne 20 11 Grenoble Béziers 12 37 Pau Oyonnax 16 9 Limoges LOU 29 16 SU Agen Bordeaux-Bégles 9 38 Toulon Blagnac 9

Round 18 Saturday 1 march and Sunday 2 march 33 Oyonnax Toulon 22 23 Béziers La Rochelle 19 12 Stade Montois Grenoble 6 13 Tarbes Aurillac 7 6 LOU Pau 9 20 Bordeaux-Bégles Racing Métro 92 16 33 Blagnac Limoges 11 37 SU Agen Narbonne 11

Round 19 Saturday 15 march and Sunday 16 march 19 Grenoble LOU 12 30 Aurillac Oyonnax 6 9 Limoges SU Agen 9 9 Pau Béziers 13 23 Racing Métro 92 Stade Montois 22 30 Toulon Tarbes 13 9 La Rochelle Bordeaux-Bégles 3 22 Narbonne Blagnac 22

Round 20 Saturday 22 march and Sunday 23 march 9 Oyonnax Racing Métro 92 16 12 Blagnac La Rochelle 31 25 Béziers SU Agen 9 19 Stade Montois Limoges 12 3 Tarbes Pau 8 28 LOU Aurillac 9 8 Bordeaux-Bégles Toulon 20 6 Grenoble Narbonne 13

Promotion playoffs

All times CET.

Semifinals

• 15 June, 15:15 — Mont-de-Marsan 12–6 Lyon
• 15 June, 19:00 — Racing Métro 23–17 La Rochelle

Final

• 21 June, 15:00 at Limoges — Racing Métro 23–32 Mont-de-Marsan (extra time)

See also

• 2007-08 Top 14 season

Notes and references

1. "French try out new bonus point system". Planet-Rugby.com. 2007-06-27. Archived from the original on 2007-09-29. Retrieved 2007-08-13.

External links

• LNR.fr
• Table