2009–10 Rugby Pro D2 season

2009–10 Rugby Pro D2 season
Countries	France
Champions	Agen
Promoted	Agen La Rochelle
Relegated	Lannemezan
Matches played	243
Attendance	1,063,059 (average 4,375 per match)
Tries scored	715 (average 2.9 per match)
Top point scorer	Silvère Tian (259)
Top try scorer	Rupeni Caucaunibuca (13)
←  2008–09 2010–11  →

The 2009–10 Rugby Pro D2 was the second-level French rugby union club competition, behind the Top 14, for the 2009–10 season. It ran alongside the 2009–10 Top 14 competition; both competitions were operated by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR).

Dax and Mont-de-Marsan, the two major clubs from the Landes département , got relegated at the end of the previous Top 14 season and replaced Racing Métro and Albi, who gained promotion to the Top 14. This season also welcomed Lannemezan and Aix-en-Provence, respectively Fédérale 1 champions and runners-up, who took the place of Bourg-en-Bresse and Béziers, the previous year's two bottom finishers.

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 kept until the end. Lannemezan in particular finished with three wins out of thirty games (one of which was 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. ^[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. ^{[2] [3]}

Previous season

Agen

Aix-en-Provence

Auch

Aurillac

Bordeaux

Colomiers

Dax

Grenoble

Lannemezan

Lyon

Mt-de-Marsan

Narbonne

Oyonnax

Pau

La Rochelle

Tarbes

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Location of teams in Rugby Pro D2 2009–10

At the end of the previous season, Racing Métro were champions and thus automatically promoted to Top 14. They were eventually followed by Albi, who defeated Oyonnax in the final of the promotion playoffs to secure a spot in the 2009–10 Top 14. Bourg-en-Bresse, which had been newly promoted to Pro D2 for the 2008–09 season, finished second-to-bottom of the table and were initially relegated to Fédérale 1, but were further relegated by French sporting authorities to Fédérale 2 due to financial problems. Béziers finished bottom of the league; they would have however stayed in Pro D2 for the next season, had Tarbes not successfully appealed the decision of the DNACG (Direction nationale d'aide et de contrôle de gestion), the LNR's financial arm, to relegate them to Fédérale 1. The other promoted team in 2008–09, Colomiers, stayed up, finishing in 14th, the first safe spot.

Lannemezan and Aix-en-Provence earned promotion from Fédérale 1 for the 2009–10 season, while Dax and Mont-de-Marsan were relegated from the 2008–09 Top 14.

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, ^[4] 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. ^[5]

France's bonus point system operates as follows: ^[5]

• 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

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 (Aix were reprieved when Top 14's Montauban were relegated directly to Fédérale 1) [2] [3]

2009–10 Rugby Pro D2 Table
	Club	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points for	Points against	Diff	Bonus points	Points	Head-to-head
1	Agen	30	21	2	7	724	378	+346	17	105
2	Lyon	30	18	6	6	644	431	+213	10	94	Lyon 8–2
3	La Rochelle	30	19	2	9	607	396	+211	14	94
4	Oyonnax	30	20	0	10	579	452	+127	9	89
5	Pau	30	16	5	9	545	425	+120	10	84	Pau 5–4
6	Grenoble	30	16	5	9	547	438	+109	10	84
7	Aurillac	30	17	0	13	575	518	+57	8	76
8	Narbonne	30	16	0	14	581	585	−4	9	73
9	Bordeaux-Bègles	30	15	1	14	507	501	+6	10	72
10	Tarbes	30	14	0	16	576	574	+2	14	70
11	Dax	30	13	2	15	542	594	−52	8	64
12	Mont-de-Marsan	30	14	2	14	528	554	−26	9	64 1
13	Auch	30	9	1	20	472	635	−63	14	52
14	Colomiers	30	7	4	19	438	623	−185	9	45
15	Aix-en-Provence	30	6	2	22	426	737	−311	7	35
16	Lannemezan	30	3	0	27	347	897	−550	7	19

• ^{^1} : Mont-de-Marsan were docked five points by the DNACG due to their failure to act upon their financial difficulties. ^{[6] [7]} This penalty also causes them to finish behind Dax in the table despite a better head-to-head record (5–4).

Results

Key

The score of the game is given by the middle (third and fourth) columns. The first and last column 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 1 Saturday 29 and Sunday 30 August 5 Grenoble 39 10 Lannemezan 1 1 Lyon 17 13 Bordeaux-Bègles 1 3 Narbonne 28 12 Pau 0 3 Auch 31 22 Colomiers 1 1 Aurillac 25 16 Oyonnax 1 1 Mont-de-marsan 22 21 La Rochelle 0 1 Tarbes 22 15 Aix-en-Provence 0 1 Dax 16 13 Agen 1

Round 2 Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 September 0 Mont-de-marsan 9 12 Grenoble 0 2 Bordeaux-Bègles 23 21 Auch 2 0 Aurillac 12 16 Pau 1 2 Colomiers 19 13 Dax 1 3 Agen 26 21 La Rochelle 2 3 Oyonnax 28 12 Tarbes 0 3 Lyon 36 14 Aix-en-Provence 1 1 Lannemezan 13 16 Narbonne 2

Round 3 Saturday 12 and Sunday 13 September 3 Auch 28 3 Lannemezan 0 3 Narbonne 33 12 Bordeaux-Bègles 0 0 Pau 9 13 Lyon 2 1 Grenoble 22 12 Colomiers 0 3 Tarbes 36 12 Mont-de-marsan 0 1 Aix-en-Provence 16 22 La Rochelle 1 3 Dax 27 6 Oyonnax 0 3 Agen 21 6 Aurillac 0

Round 4 Friday 18, Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 September 1 Grenoble 16 15 Pau 0 1 Bordeaux-Bègles 22 9 Aurillac 0 0 Colomiers 12 12 Lyon 0 1 Oyonnax 13 6 Narbonne 0 0 Mont-de-marsan 24 18 Aix-en-Provence 0 1 La Rochelle 16 6 Tarbes 0 2 Lannemezan 11 23 Dax 3 0 Auch 3 19 Agen 1

Round 5 Saturday 26 and Sunday 27 September 1 La Rochelle 22 6 Lannemezan 0 0 Tarbes 15 12 Bordeaux-Bègles 0 1 Pau 16 14 Dax 1 1 Aurillac 22 12 Colomiers 0 0 Lyon 18 22 Oyonnax 1 0 Mont-de-marsan 6 16 Auch 1 0 Aix-en-Provence 24 19 Narbonne 1 1 Agen 22 16 Grenoble 1

Round 6 Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 October 0 Narbonne 15 12 Mont-de-marsan 0 0 Pau 6 6 La Rochelle 0 1 Colomiers 13 13 Aix-en-Provence 1 1 Auch 14 19 Tarbes 1 0 Dax 9 9 Lyon 0 0 Grenoble 12 6 Aurillac 0 0 Bordeaux-Bègles 15 29 Agen 3 3 Lannemezan 24 35 Oyonnax 4

Round 7 Friday 16, Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 October 3 Lyon 26 6 Auch 0 0 Aix-en-Provence 12 8 Lannemezan 1 1 Mont-de-marsan 16 12 Bordeaux-Bègles 0 1 Tarbes 22 23 Pau 1 1 Aurillac 23 6 Dax 0 0 Oyonnax 12 10 Agen 1 3 Colomiers 19 13 La Rochelle 1 4 Narbonne 32 0 Grenoble 0

Round 8 Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 October 3 Bordeaux-Bègles 21 10 Aix-en-Provence 1 2 Agen 20 14 Pau 1 3 Oyonnax 31 15 Colomiers 2 1 Tarbes 28 18 Grenoble 2 3 Dax 22 14 Auch 1 2 Aurillac 15 3 Narbonne 0 0 La Rochelle 18 19 Lyon 1 1 Lannemezan 16 18 Mont-de-marsan 2

Round 9 31 October and 1 November Lyon – Tarbes was postponed to 15 November after an H1N1 flu outbreak amongst Tarbes players [8] Saturday 31 October, Sunday 1 and Sunday 15 November 2 Colomiers 17 13 Lannemezan 1 2 Pau 17 11 Bordeaux-Bègles 1 0 Aix-en-Provence 3 16 Oyonnax 1 5 Agen 37 8 Mont-de-marsan 1 0 Grenoble 9 9 La Rochelle 0 3 Auch 34 23 Aurillac 1 0 Dax 3 17 Narbonne 2 5 Lyon 43 14 Tarbes 1

Round 10 Saturday 7 and Sunday 8 November 1 Oyonnax 16 9 Pau 0 0 Mont-de-marsan 15 15 Lyon 0 3 Aurillac 38 19 Aix-en-Provence 1 3 La Rochelle 29 10 Dax 1 0 Auch 15 17 Grenoble 1 1 Lannemezan 11 41 Agen 5 3 Bordeaux-Bègles 31 9 Colomiers 0 4 Narbonne 27 20 Tarbes 3

Round 11 Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 November 3 Pau 25 12 Lannemezan 0 1 Aix-en-Provence 13 15 Grenoble 2 3 La Rochelle 20 6 Auch 0 3 Lyon 20 8 Narbonne 1 1 Bordeaux-Bègles 17 10 Oyonnax 1 1 Colomiers 16 21 Agen 2 1 Mont-de-marsan 16 5 Dax 1 1 Tarbes 11 13 Aurillac 1

Round 12 Saturday 28, Sunday 29 November and Wednesday 23 December 5 Agen 29 3 Aix-en-Provence 0 1 Aurillac 25 22 La Rochelle 3 1 Dax 19 16 Tarbes 1 0 Grenoble 9 9 Lyon 0 0 Auch 27 32 Narbonne 2 0 Lannemezan 9 16 Bordeaux-Bègles 1 5 Oyonnax 36 10 Mont-de-marsan 1 4 Pau 38 5 Colomiers 1

Round 13 Friday 4, Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 December 1 Lyon 22 10 Aurillac 1 0 Tarbes 12 13 Lannemezan 1 4 La Rochelle 27 13 Bordeaux-Bègles 1 2 Aix-en-Provence 21 16 Pau 1 1 Colomiers 10 15 Mont-de-marsan 2 1 Oyonnax 25 18 Auch 2 0 Dax 15 8 Grenoble 1 1 Narbonne 22 16 Agen 2

Round 14 Saturday 12 and Sunday 13 December 0 Mont-de-marsan 18 14 Pau 1 1 Tarbes 28 21 Colomiers 0 0 Lyon 9 10 Agen 1 4 Auch 35 14 Aix-en-Provence 1 1 Narbonne 16 13 La Rochelle 1 0 Lannemezan 9 16 Aurillac 1 2 Bordeaux-Bègles 17 16 Dax 1 2 Grenoble 21 13 Oyonnax 1

Round 15 18, 19 and 20 December Aurillac – Mont-de-Marsan was postponed to 14 February due to poor climatic conditions in Aurillac [9] Lannemezan – Lyon was postponed to 24 April due to heavy snowfalls in the Hautes-Pyrénées département [10] Friday 18, Saturday 19, Sunday 20 December, Sunday 14 February and Sunday 24 April 0 Pau 3 3 Auch 0 1 Bordeaux-Bègles 14 14 Grenoble 1 4 Colomiers 35 13 Narbonne 1 4 Agen 32 14 Tarbes 1 0 Aix-en-Provence 6 15 Dax 2 3 La Rochelle 21 26 Oyonnax 2 5 Aurillac 36 12 Mont-de-marsan 0 1 Lannemezan 17 30 Lyon 2

Round 16 9 and 10 January Aix-en-Provence – Tarbes was postponed to 13 February due to poor climatic conditions in Aix [11] Colomiers – Auch and Agen – Dax were postponed to 14 February due to a frozen pitch and heavy snowfalls, respectively [12] [13] Saturday 9, Sunday 10 January, Saturday 13 and Sunday 14 February 5 Pau 46 7 Narbonne 1 2 Oyonnax 13 10 Aurillac 1 3 La Rochelle 25 20 Mont-de-marsan 2 1 Lannemezan 10 43 Grenoble 6 3 Bordeaux-Bègles 27 9 Lyon 0 1 Aix-en-Provence 19 21 Tarbes 3 0 Colomiers 6 9 Auch 0 2 Agen 23 6 Dax 0

Round 17 Saturday 16 and Sunday 17 January 8 Narbonne 56 10 Lannemezan 1 1 Auch 17 6 Bordeaux-Bègles 0 2 Pau 21 14 Aurillac 1 1 Dax 10 0 Colomiers 0 1 Tarbes 13 9 Oyonnax 0 0 Aix-en-Provence 12 12 Lyon 0 1 La Rochelle 20 10 Agen 1 1 Grenoble 14 9 Mont-de-marsan 0

Round 18 Saturday 23 and Sunday 24 January 2 Bordeaux-Bègles 21 12 Narbonne 0 1 Colomiers 10 10 Grenoble 1 2 Oyonnax 29 10 Dax 1 0 Mont-de-marsan 18 12 Tarbes 0 4 La Rochelle 37 3 Aix-en-Provence 0 1 Aurillac 19 17 Agen 2 1 Lannemezan 10 17 Auch 1 1 Lyon 22 22 Pau 1

Round 19 Saturday 30 and Sunday 31 January 4 Dax 34 8 Lannemezan 1 0 Aurillac 12 7 Bordeaux-Bègles 1 0 Narbonne 6 13 Oyonnax 1 2 Agen 21 6 Auch 0 2 Aix-en-Provence 20 18 Mont-de-marsan 2 1 Tarbes 7 12 La Rochelle 0 2 Pau 26 3 Grenoble 0 7 Lyon 50 10 Colomiers 1

Round 20 Saturday 6 and Sunday 7 February 0 Grenoble 12 12 Agen 0 1 Bordeaux-Bègles 16 9 Tarbes 0 0 Dax 3 3 Pau 0 1 Colomiers 13 9 Aurillac 0 0 Auch 3 19 Mont-de-marsan 1 7 Narbonne 43 10 Aix-en-Provence 1 3 Oyonnax 21 6 Lyon 0 1 Lannemezan 5 31 La Rochelle 3

Round 21 Saturday 20 and Sunday 21 February 1 Mont-de-marsan 17 6 Narbonne 0 2 Agen 21 16 Bordeaux-Bègles 1 4 Oyonnax 29 0 Lannemezan 0 0 Aix-en-Provence 12 25 Colomiers 1 1 Tarbes 19 13 Auch 1 2 Lyon 26 6 Dax 0 0 Aurillac 24 21 Grenoble 2 4 La Rochelle 32 0 Pau 0

Round 22 Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 February 2 Bordeaux-Bègles 24 21 Mont-de-marsan 2 1 Pau 16 15 Tarbes 0 1 La Rochelle 11 6 Colomiers 0 1 Dax 22 13 Aurillac 1 2 Auch 18 25 Lyon 1 2 Grenoble 27 14 Narbonne 2 3 Lannemezan 32 28 Aix-en-Provence 3 2 Agen 23 11 Oyonnax 1

Round 23 Saturday 6 and Sunday 7 March 2 Lyon 20 14 La Rochelle 1 6 Mont-de-marsan 46 6 Lannemezan 0 1 Aix-en-Provence 13 10 Bordeaux-Bègles 1 1 Grenoble 22 20 Tarbes 1 2 Auch 15 21 Dax 0 1 Narbonne 25 9 Aurillac 0 1 Pau 16 16 Agen 1 0 Colomiers 12 13 Oyonnax 1

Round 24 Saturday 13 and Sunday 14 March 3 Lannemezan 24 22 Colomiers 1 4 Bordeaux-Bègles 31 13 Pau 2 5 Oyonnax 36 18 Aix-en-Provence 2 3 Tarbes 22 16 Lyon 1 3 Narbonne 24 18 Dax 2 2 Aurillac 24 15 Auch 0 2 La Rochelle 25 21 Grenoble 2 2 Mont-de-marsan 18 12 Agen 0

Round 25 Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 March 3 Lyon 26 6 Mont-de-marsan 0 6 Agen 43 3 Lannemezan 0 1 Colomiers 20 22 Bordeaux-Bègles 1 0 Aix-en-Provence 18 23 Aurillac 2 2 Tarbes 23 11 Narbonne 1 1 Dax 13 17 La Rochelle 1 1 Grenoble 19 0 Auch 0 1 Pau 17 6 Oyonnax 0

Round 26 Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 April 1 Oyonnax 16 6 Bordeaux-Bègles 0 3 Agen 31 3 Colomiers 0 1 Dax 19 15 Mont-de-marsan 0 4 Grenoble 28 5 Aix-en-Provence 1 3 Aurillac 36 18 Tarbes 2 0 Auch 3 9 La Rochelle 0 0 Lannemezan 15 21 Pau 2 0 Narbonne 3 27 Lyon 4

Round 27 Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 April 1 Aix-en-Provence 10 31 Agen 4 6 Bordeaux-Bègles 46 17 Lannemezan 2 0 Colomiers 12 29 Pau 2 2 La Rochelle 21 22 Aurillac 1 6 Tarbes 40 21 Dax 3 3 Narbonne 20 19 Auch 3 2 Mont-de-marsan 31 26 Oyonnax 2 2 Lyon 27 19 Grenoble 2

Round 28 Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 April 1 Lannemezan 16 39 Tarbes 5 1 Bordeaux-Bègles 14 28 La Rochelle 4 6 Pau 45 10 Aix-en-Provence 1 2 Mont-de-marsan 29 29 Colomiers 3 5 Auch 36 20 Oyonnax 2 4 Grenoble 28 5 Dax 1 0 Aurillac 18 25 Lyon 3 8 Agen 57 12 Narbonne 2

Round 29 Saturday 1 and Sunday 2 May 6 Aurillac 45 3 Lannemezan 0 1 Dax 8 9 Bordeaux-Bègles 0 0 Pau 18 6 Mont-de-marsan 0 2 Aix-en-Provence 23 14 Auch 2 4 La Rochelle 36 21 Narbonne 2 4 Agen 34 11 Lyon 1 1 Colomiers 16 14 Tarbes 1 2 Oyonnax 26 19 Grenoble 1

Round 30 Sunday 9 May 6 Lyon 44 13 Lannemezan 1 5 Grenoble 33 3 Bordeaux-Bègles 0 2 Auch 16 19 Pau 1 5 Narbonne 34 17 Colomiers 2 0 Oyonnax 6 9 La Rochelle 0 2 Tarbes 29 27 Agen 4 5 Mont-de-marsan 42 15 Aurillac 2 5 Dax 33 24 Aix-en-Provence 4

Promotion playoffs

All times CEST.

Semi-finals

15 May 2010 19:00

La Rochelle	6 – 3	Oyonnax
Pen: Dambielle (2/4) 47', 67'	Report	Drop: Guilloux (1/2) 37'

Stade Marcel-Deflandre, La Rochelle Attendance: 12,000 [14] Referee: Franck Maciello

---

16 May 2010 15:00

Lyon	29 – 13	Pau
Try: Sadourny 29' m Nicoud 33' c Sève 63' m Con: Montagnat (1/3) Pen: Montagnat (4/5) 3', 6', 12', 16'	Report	Try: Puyo 51' c Con: Hough (1/1) Pen: Darbo (2/3) 8', 57'

Stade Vuillermet, Lyon Attendance: 4,190 [15] Referee: Mathieu Raynal

Final

23 May 2010 16:30

Lyon	26 – 32	La Rochelle
Try: Bailey (2) 3' c, 25' m Leite 20' m Con: Montagnat (1/3) Pen: Montagnat (3/4) 14', 55', 63'	Report	Try: Ferrou 52' c Ninard 69' c Con: Dambielle (2/2) Pen: Dambielle (6/7) 7', 12', 23', 31', 35', 59'

Stade Amédée-Domenech, Brive Attendance: 15,000 [16] Referee: Patrick Péchambert

See also

• 2009–10 Top 14 season

Notes and references

1. "Le MTG XV relégué en Fédérale" (in French). 2010-06-10. Retrieved 2010-06-13.
2. "Pays d'Aix: Le maintien et Laïrle dans le staff" (in French). 2010-06-12. Retrieved 2010-06-13.
3. "Mort-auban!". Archived from the original on 2011-10-05. Retrieved 2010-06-13.
4. "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.
5. "Article 330, Section 3.2. Points "terrain"" (PDF). Règlements de la Ligue Nationale de Rugby 2008/2009, Chapitre 2 : Règlement sportif du Championnat de France Professionnel (in French). Ligue Nationale de Rugby. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-02-17. Retrieved 2008-08-27.
6. "Mont-de-Marsan perd 5 points" . Retrieved 2010-04-18.
7. "Official 2009–10 Rugby Pro D2 Table". Ligue Nationale de Rugby. Archived from the original on 2009-08-30. Retrieved 2010-04-18.
8. "Lyon-Tarbes reporté" . Retrieved 2010-04-18.
9. "Report à Aurillac" . Retrieved 2010-04-18.
10. "Lannemezan-Lyon reporté" . Retrieved 2010-04-18.
11. "Aix-Tarbes reporté" . Retrieved 2010-04-18.
12. "Colomiers-Auch reporté" . Retrieved 2010-04-18.
13. "Agen-Dax ajourné" . Retrieved 2010-04-18.
14. "La Rochelle – Oyonnax, Pro D2 (samedi 15 mai 2010), Fiche Match" (in French). L'Équipe. 2010-05-15. Archived from the original on 19 May 2010. Retrieved 2010-05-16.
15. "Lyon – Pau, Pro D2 (dimanche 16 mai 2010), Fiche Match" (in French). L'Équipe. 2010-05-16. Archived from the original on 19 May 2010. Retrieved 2010-05-17.
16. "Lyon – La Rochelle, Pro D2 (dimanche 23 mai 2010), Fiche Match" (in French). L'Équipe. 2010-05-23. Archived from the original on 26 May 2010. Retrieved 2010-05-23.

External links

• LNR.fr