2023–24 Championnat Fédéral Nationale season

The 2023–24 Championnat Fédéral Nationale was the third-level French rugby union club competition, behind the Rugby Pro D2 and Top 14, for the 2023–24 season.

2023–24 Nationale
Countries France
Date25 August 2023 – 18 May 2024
ChampionsNice (1st title)
Runners-upNarbonne
PromotedNice
RelegatedBlagnac, Vienne
Official website
www.ffr.fr

Teams

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Number of teams by regions

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Teams Region or country Team(s)
5   Occitanie Albi, Blagnac, Carcassonne, Narbonne, Tarbes
4   Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Bourg-en-Bresse, Bourgoin, Chambéry, Vienne
2   Île-de-France Massy, Suresnes
  Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Hyères, Nice
1   Nouvelle-Aquitaine Périgueux

Competition format

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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 Nationale 2, 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 the play-offs earns the league championship and automatic promotion to the next season's Prod D2; the runner-up enters a play-off with the second-from-bottom Pro D2 team, with the winner of that play-off taking up the final place in Pro D2.

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.

Table

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2023–24 Nationale season Table
Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PD TB LB Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Nice (P) 26 18 1 7 676 352 +324 11 4 96 Semi-final promotion play-off
2 Narbonne 26 18 0 8 653 479 +174 7 6 94
3 Carcassonne 26 18 1 7 552 344 +208 8 3 93 Quarter-final promotion play-off
4 Albi 24 17 0 7 552 344 +208 8 3 91
5 Suresnes 26 16 0 10 601 542 +59 4 3 80
6 Chambéry 26 15 2 9 582 450 +132 5 5 80
7 Périgueux 26 14 1 11 545 421 +124 5 6 78
8 Bourgoin-Jallieu 26 13 1 12 447 423 +24 3 6 72
9 Massy 26 12 0 14 548 506 +42 4 9 70
10 Bourg-en-Bresse 26 11 1 14 546 503 +43 3 11 69
11 Hyères 26 13 1 12 509 555 −46 4 3 67
12 Tarbes 26 10 0 16 472 586 −114 3 9 61
13 Vienne 26 3 0 23 255 807 −552 2 3 26 Relegation play-off
14 Blagnac (R) 26 0 0 26 0 650 −650 0 0 −43 Relegation to Nationale 2
Source: [4]
Rules for classification: When two teams have the same points total, position is determined by head-to-head results before points difference.
(P) Promoted; (R) Relegated

Relegation playoff

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The team finishing in 13th place faces the runner-up of the Nationale 2, with the winner of this match playing in the 2024–25 Nationale and the loser in the 2024–25 Nationale 2.

Promotion Playoffs

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Semi-final Qualifiers Semi-finals Final
1 Nice 35
4 Albi 18 5 Suresnes 13
5 Suresnes 21 1 Nice 39
2 Narbonne 30
2 Narbonne 23
3 Carcassonne 19 3 Carcassonne 20
6 Chambéry 10

See also

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Notes

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References

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  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 22 May 2023.
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