2021–22 Championnat Fédéral Nationale season

The 2020–21 Championnat Fédéral Nationale is the third-level French rugby union club competition, behind the Rugby Pro D2 and Top 14, for the 2021–22 season.

2021–22 Nationale
Countries France
Date3 September 2021 – 5 June 2022
Official website
www.ffr.fr

Teams

Number of teams by regions
Teams Region or country Team(s)
4  Auvergne-Rhône-AlpesAubenas Vals, Bourgoin, Chambéry, Valence
3  Nouvelle-AquitaineCognac Saint-Jean-d'Angély, Dax, Soyaux Angoulême
 OccitanieAlbi, Blagnac, Tarbes
2  Île-de-FranceMassy, Suresnes
1  Bourgogne-Franche-ComtéDijon
 Provence-Alpes-Côte d'AzurNice

Competition format

The regular season uses a double round-robin format, in which each team plays the others home and away.

There is relegation and promotion between both the Rugby Pro D2 and Fédérale 1, the fourth-level competition. Nationale conducts a play-off system similar to the one currently used in Pro D2, with the top six teams qualifying for the play-offs and the top two teams receiving byes into the semi-finals. The winner of each semi-final earns automatic promotion to the next season's Pro D2 if they are eligible financially to do so. The bottom two are automatically relegated to Fédérale 1. The bottom two clubs of the Pro D2 and the top two of Fédérale 1 then enter Nationale for the next season.

There are 26 rounds in the regular season, with each team playing each other team home and away. The two halves of the season are played in the same order, with the away team in the first half of the season at home in the second half. The semi-finals and final take place in May, with the semi-finals being held over two-legs and the final taking place at a predetermined site. At present, 14 clubs compete in the competition.[1][2]

France's bonus point system operates as follows:[3]

  • 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.

Promotion

Nationale to Pro D2

As noted above, both promotion places will be determined by play-offs, with the two finalists of the Nationale play-offs earning promotion.

Relegation

Normally, the teams that finish in 13th and 14th 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 bar a Fédérale 1 team from promotion.

Table

The current table for the 2021–22 Championnat Fédéral Nationale is:[4]

2021–22 Nationale season Table
Pos Club Pl W D L PF PA PD TB LB Pts
1Massy151302363183+1805263
2Soyaux Angoulême141004367223+1445251
3Albi151005320260+604149
4Chambéry14806365244+1215445
5Valence Romans13805306214+923342
6Suresnes15807327393–661239
7Nice14806251264–130238
8Blagnac15807236268–320238
9Dax14608285241+442535
10Aubenas Vals15519252347–951330
11Tarbes14608254339–852030
12Bourgoin-Jallieu154011219342–1230624
13Dijon143110285352–670523
14Cognac Saint-Jean-d'Angély153012286446–1600723
Legend:
Pos = Position, Pl = Played, W = Won, D = Drawn, L = Lost, PF = Points For, PA = Points Against, PD = Points Difference, TB = Try Bonus Points, LB = Losing Bonus Points, Pts = Points Total
Green background (rows 1 and 2) receive semi-final Promotion play-off places.
Blue background (rows 3 to 6) receive quarter-final Promotion play-off places.
Red background relegation to Fédérale 1.

Notes:
When two teams have the same points total, position is determined by head-to-head results before points difference.

See also

Notes

    References
    1. "Nationale : Le calendrier des oppositions" (Press release) (in French). French Rugby Federation. 17 July 2020. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
    2. "REGLEMENT DU CHAMPIONNAT DE FRANCE DE 1ERE DIVISION FEDERALE" (PDF) (Press release) (in French). French Rugby Federation. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
    3. "Article 330, Section 3.2. Points "terrain" et points de bonus" (PDF). Statuts et Reglements de la Ligue Nationale de Rugby 2014/2015, Chapitre 2 : Règlement sportif des championnats profesionnels (in French). Ligue Nationale de Rugby. p. 166. Retrieved 2014-08-26.
    4. "Classement NATIONALE". Fédération Française de Rugby (in French). Retrieved 18 January 2022.
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