Pro D2 2016-2017 Season Preview

The second division of the French domestic championship – the Pro D2 – starts a new season today. Competing for the right to earn promotion to the Top 14 will be sixteen clubs. Eleven of them are in France’s south-west, the traditional hot bed of French rugby. But with large cities taking over many of them are finding it tough to rise to the Top 14 and remain there.

In the 2016-2017 season the south-west clubs will be Agen, Albi, Beziers, Biarritz, Carcassonne, Colomiers, Dax, Montauban, Mont de Marsan, Narbonne and Perpignan. Of them only Carcassonne has not played in the Top 14.

The remaining five clubs are relatively well spread. From the east both Bourgoin and Oyonnax have Top 14 experience. Aurillac will be representing central France while Vannes and Charente, both to the north-west of Aurillac are the newcomers.

Joining the Pro D2 from the Top 14 this season are Agen and Oyonnax. Gone from the Pro D2 last season are Tarbes and Aix en Provence. These two clubs are now in the Fédérale 1, France’s third division.

PLAY-OFF’S

Pro D2 rules provide the top placed club at the competition of the regular season with automatic qualification to the Top 14. The clubs that finished 2nd-5th compete for the remaining vacancy. There looks to be a solid group of seven serious title contenders:

Colomiers
For European finalists, Colomiers are a team to always be within a shot of winning relegation. Toulouse’s neighbors have come very close in recent years only to fall short. This season looks like being more of the same. The club has a reasonable roster which included three Argentine forwards. The recruitment, though, has not been as thorough that of rivals. Among the players to have departed is Rugby World Cup 2007 fly half David Skrela.

Mont de Marsan
A real yo-yo club, Mont de Marsan have come and gone from the Top 14 throughout the past decade or so. The club is a genuine French heartland side but, like others, does not possess the financial or population power to challenge the big cities. It does, nonetheless, have a competitive roster by Pro D2 standards. Uruguay’s Agustín Ormaechea has consistently been a strong performer and his play will have plenty to do with how far the club can go this season.

Perpignan
It is taking the Catalans far too long to win promotion. Following their shock relegation in 2014 the club was expected to bounce straight back. This has not been the case. Instead Perpignan are now starting their third-consecutive season in the second division. Surely the 2016-2017 season will be the end of this. The club’s traditions, budget, supports, stadium and roster  should all combine to see Perpignan winning promotion. Promising second-rowers from Argentina and Canada are among the arrivals.

Aurillac
Clermont’s southern neighbors Aurillac have been banging on the door for promotion for quite some time. The club has regularly made a strong push for the play-off’s, appearing on numerous occasions. It has, however, fallen short at the last hurdle. The new season looms as being comparable as the club has a solid roster and a quality coaching regime. Watch out for prospective USA Eagle Christian Ostberg.

Biarritz
A club that should never have been relegated from the Top 14 is Biarritz. Like Perpignan the club shockingly found itself dropping as others with lower budgets dug deep to survive. For the new season Biarritz has managed to stay in the Pro D2 after it had been threatened with relegation to the Fédérale 1 for financial irregularities. A number of players have departed, among them long-time servant Taku Ngwenya. The club nonetheless has a roster that, if it clicks, should be involved in the play-off’s.

Oyonnax
The goal is to return immediately to the Top and is certainly entirely plausible. The club has a strong roster and is to be led by Canadian Jamie Cudmore. The veteran of four Rugby World Cups will have a number of noteworthy teammates who can ease the task at hand. Expect to see Oyonnax in the race for the play-off’s throughout the season. It has what it takes to win promotion.

Agen
Like Mont de Marsan this south-west town side has come and gone from the Top 14. The club has benefitted tremendously from the local production of world class athletes. The likes of Jean-Jacques Crenca, Brice Dulin and Phillipe Sella are all from the area. Of the current roster second-rower William Demotte started for France against Argentina this year. Canadian Taylor Paris won the club promotion two years ago –  similar hope will be placed on his shoulder again this season.

RELEGATION

The seven clubs identified below are those which Americas Rugby News believes to be in for the toughest seasons. With the bottom two automatically being relegated these seven are those deemed to be in danger.

Narbonne
Having been plagued with financial problems Narbonne is perhaps fortunate to have avoided relegation last season. The club finished 11th, an improvement from 14th in the prior season. Despite having a small budget the club has acquired some notable players including three former All Blacks. Age is not on their side though and rival clubs will certainly get a better return from their investments. Narbonne will find it tough to get back to the Top 14 with avoiding relegation very likely to dominate their season.

Charente
Up from the Fédérale is Soyaux Angoulême XV Charente. The 2016-2017 season is to be the club’s first ever in the Pro D2. This very fact makes the club a contender to be relegated back in the third division with immediate effect. Do not be fooled though as the club has put together a roster featuring some very accomplished players. Among them is Sebastián Poet, a quality fly half yet to be capped by Argentina. Poet had a good season in the 2015-2016 Pro D2 and can direct play well. The club should be able to succeed in avoiding relegation.

Dax
Lucky to have avoided relegation last season Dax enter the new season as prime contenders for relegation. The club finished 15th in 2015-2016 yet it was Tarbes who were relegated. This was the case based on Tarbes having been penalized for presenting false documents. Remarkably Dax also avoided promotion from the Top 14 a decade earlier based on the same grounds. For the new season the club has not recruited strongly. As such it is not likely to have an easy season. Americas Rugby News suggests it will be relegated.

Vannes
Rugby club vannetais joins Charente in gaining promotion from the Fédérale 1. Last season the Brittany city of Rennes hosted the Top 14 Semi Finals. This season the region will be represented by Vannes in the Pro d2. The club has made sure it will have a roster to compete in France’s second division. Among the arrivals are former Italian number 8 Manoa Vosawai, Canadian center Conor Trainor, Puma Martín García Veiga and uncapped Argentine fly half Bautista Guemes. All were very smart and valuable acquisitions. Expect the club to put up a good fight to hang on.

Montauban
Another club to have played in the Top 14 is Montauban. The club has had serious issues which have seen it sent down to the Fédérale 1. The club earned its way back up to the Pro d2 in 2014 but is far from being the side of the past which won the Pro D2 in 2006. Evidence of Montauban’s thought task of avoiding relegation can be seen by looking at the books. Only five clubs had smaller budgets than Montauban in the Pro D2 last season. Two of them now play in the third division.

Béziers
The former giants of French rugby are in danger of dropping again to France’s third division. The club is one to have fallen victim to professionalism. While others have flourished the multiple-time former French champions have been unable to deliver. 15th, 12th, 10th, 6th and 11th have been Béziers’ final placings in the Pro D2 in the past five years. The club will do very well to reach the play-off’s. Expect it to be in a dog fight to stay out of the lower table.

Bourgoin
A decade ago Bourgoin was a club that qualified for the Heineken Cup (now Champions Cup) regularly. Today, though, it is a club struggling to avoid falling into the abyss. Like Biarritz, Dax, Narbonne and Montauban it is one to have faced serious economic issues. Elite players to have come through the club include Julien Bonnaire, Sebastián Chabal, Lionel Nallet and Morgan Parra. Yet the Top 14 days, are long gone now. The club has suffered from being a small-town team. The goals this season must be to avoid relegation and avoid making a financial loss.