2008–09 European Challenge Cup

2008–09 European Challenge Cup
Tournament details
Countries  England
 France
 Ireland
 Italy
 Romania
 Spain
Tournament format(s) Round-robin and Knockout
Date 9 October 2008 to 22 May 2009
Tournament statistics
Teams 20
Matches played 67
Top point scorer(s) Stephen Myler (Northampton)
(133 points)
Top try scorer(s) Chris Ashton (Northampton)
(7 tries)
Final
Venue Twickenham Stoop
Attendance 9,260
Champions Northampton Saints (1st title)
Runner-up Bourgoin
Official website http://www.ercrugby.com/eng/
← 2007–08 (Previous) (Next) 2009–10 →

The 2008–09 European Challenge Cup was the 13th season of the European Challenge Cup, the annual rugby union European club competition for clubs from six nations in European rugby. It started in October 2008 and ended with the final at the Twickenham Stoop in London on 22 May 2009, in which Northampton Saints defeated Bourgoin 15–3. With the win, the Saints not only claimed the trophy, but also won a berth in the 2009–10 Heineken Cup.

Contents

Teams

Seven French teams competed instead of the normal eight, as a French team, Toulouse, progressed farther in the previous year's Heineken Cup than any English or Italian team.

Other nations had their usual number of participants: England six, Italy four, Ireland one, Spain one and Romania one.[1]

France England Italy Ireland Spain Romania

Pool stage

Main article: 2008–09 European Challenge Cup pool stage

The draw for the pool stages took place on 23 June 2008. The draw was conducted using the ERC European Ranking system which was based on the qualified teams' performances and participation in the Heineken Cup and knock-out stages of the European Challenge Cup over the past four seasons.

Key to colours
     Winner of each pool,
advance to quarterfinals. Seed # in parentheses
     Three highest-scoring second-place teams,
advance to quarterfinals. Seed # in parentheses

Pool 1

Team P W D L Tries for Tries against Try diff Points for Points against Points diff TB LB Pts
London Irish (1) 6 6 0 0 44 3 +41 300 34 +266 5 0 29
Connacht (7) 6 4 0 2 20 19 +1 159 140 +19 3 0 19
Rovigo 6 1 0 5 7 25 −18 79 199 –120 0 1 5
Dax 6 1 0 5 5 29 −24 55 220 –165 0 0 4

Pool 2

Team P W D L Tries for Tries against Try diff Points for Points against Points diff TB LB Pts
Northampton Saints (2) 6 6 0 0 37 7 +30 278 69 +209 5 0 29
Bristol 6 3 0 3 14 21 −7 140 168 −28 1 1 14
Montpellier 6 2 0 4 10 18 −8 101 159 −58 0 1 9
RC Toulon 6 1 0 5 7 22 −15 84 207 −123 0 1 5

Pool 3

Team P W D L Tries for Tries against Try diff Points for Points against Points diff TB LB Pts
Worcester Warriors (4) 6 5 0 1 36 8 +28 255 94 +161 4 0 24
Bourgoin (8) 6 3 0 3 18 11 +7 158 115 +43 1 2 15
Petrarca Padova 6 3 0 3 11 28 −17 112 206 −94 0 1 13
Bucureşti Oaks 6 1 0 5 8 26 −18 87 197 −110 0 1 5

Pool 4

Team P W D L Tries for Tries against Try diff Points for Points against Points diff TB LB Pts
Brive (5) 6 5 0 1 33 8 +25 243 89 +154 3 1 24
Newcastle Falcons (6) 6 4 0 2 24 8 +16 178 90 +88 2 1 19
Overmach Parma 6 3 0 3 19 13 +6 165 120 +45 2 2 16
CR El Salvador 6 0 0 6 5 52 −47 46 333 −287 0 0 0

Pool 5

Team P W D L Tries for Tries against Try diff Points for Points against Points diff TB LB Pts
Saracens (3) 6 6 0 0 20 1 +19 200 43 +157 2 0 26
Viadana 6 3 0 3 8 11 −3 120 126 −6 0 1 13
Bayonne 6 3 0 3 9 11 −2 99 122 −23 0 0 12
Mont-de-Marsan 6 0 0 0 4 18 −14 54 182 −128 0 1 1

Seeding and runners-up

Seed Pool Winners Pts TF +/-
1 London Irish 29 44 +266
2 Northampton Saints 29 37 +209
3 Saracens 26 20 +157
4 Worcester Warriors 24 36 +161
5 Brive 24 33 +154
Seed Pool Runners-up Pts TF +/-
6 Newcastle Falcons 19 24 +88
7 Connacht 19 20 +19
8 Bourgoin 15 18 +43
- Bristol 14 14 −28
- Viadana 13 8 −6

Knockout stage

Unlike the Heineken Cup, the Challenge Cup did not conduct a semi-final draw at the time (such a draw would be instituted for the 2009–10 edition). The top half of the draw matched the 1 and 8 seeds in one quarter-final, and the 4 and 5 seeds in the other, and the bottom half matched 2 against 7 and 3 against 6; the higher (lower-numbered) seeds all play at home. The knockout stage was not reseeded after the quarter-finals. Home advantage for the semi-finals was awarded to the highest remaining seed in each half of the draw. Home advantage in the final went to the top remaining seed.

Quarter-finals

9 April 2009
19:30		 London Irish 30 – 32 Bourgoin Madejski Stadium, Reading
Attendance: 6,455
Referee: Peter Allen (Scotland)
Tries: Mapusua 56' c
S. Armitage 80+2' m
Con: D. Armitage (1/2)
Pen: D. Armitage (5/6) 11', 16', 31', 40', 71'
Drop: Kennedy (1/1) 79'		 Report Tries: Forest 42' c
Nicolas 77' c
Con: Parra (2/2)
Pen: Parra (4/5) 6', 37', 59', 63'
Drop: Boyet (2/4) 28', 72'
11 April 2009
13:00		 Worcester Warriors 29 – 18 Brive Sixways Stadium, Worcester
Attendance: 4,323
Referee: Peter Fitzgibbon (Ireland)
Tries: Garvey (2) 11' c, 72' c
Sanderson 22' c
Grove 52' m
Con: Jones (3/4)
Pen: Jones (1/1) 9'		 Report Tries: Cooke (2) 35' m, 44' c
Con: Palisson (1/2)
Pen: Goode (1/1) 17'
Palisson (1/1) 66'
11 April 2009
15:00		 Northampton Saints 42 – 13 Connacht Franklin's Gardens, Northampton
Attendance: 9,119
Referee: Romain Poite (France)
Tries: Best 71' c
Ansbro 74' m
Reihana 79' c
Mayor 80' m
Con: Myler (1/2)
Everitt (1/2)
Pen: Myler (6/6) 16', 24', 37', 45', 55', 65'		 Report Try: Ofisa 52' c
Con: Keatley (1/1)
Pen: Keatley (1/1) 19'
Drop: Keatley (1/1) 29'
12 April 2009
15:00		 Saracens 32 – 13 Newcastle Falcons Vicarage Road, Watford
Attendance: 7,711
Referee: Carlo Damasco (Italy)
Tries: Johnston 26' c
Barritt 30' c
Con: Jackson (2/2)
Pen: Jackson (5/5) 15', 23', 53', 65', 68'
Drop: Jackson (1/1) 38'		 Report Tries: Williams 58' m
Dowson 79' m
Pen: May (1/1) 9'

Semi-finals

1 May 2009
19:45		 Northampton Saints 16 – 13 Saracens Franklin's Gardens, Northampton
Attendance: 11,073
Referee: Romain Poite (France)
Try: Reihana 30' c
Con: Myler (1/1)
Pen: Myler (2/2) 7', 13'
Drop: Myler (1/1) 74'		 Report Try: Penney 73' c
Con: Jackson (1/1)
Pen: Jackson (2/2) 5', 52'
2 May 2009
13:30		 Bourgoin 22 – 11 Worcester Warriors Stade Pierre Rajon, Bourgoin
Attendance: 8,200
Referee: Peter Fitzgibbon (Ireland)
Try: Levast 62' c
Con: Parra (1/1)
Pen: Parra (4/4) 10', 43', 52', 58'
Drop: Boyet (1/1) 60'		 Report Try: Benjamin 78' m
Pen: Carlisle (2/2) 28', 35'

Final

22 May 2009
19:45		 Northampton Saints 15 – 3 Bourgoin Twickenham Stoop, London
Attendance: 9,260
Referee: George Clancy (Ireland)
Pen: Myler (5/5) 9', 20', 38', 48', 69'
Drop: Myler (0/2)		 Report Pen: Parra (1/1) 33'
Drop: Boyet (0/1)

See also

Notes and references

  1. ^ "European Challenge Cup – Key Tournament Rules". European Rugby Cup. http://www.ercrugby.com/eng/268_4700.php. Retrieved 2009-01-28. 

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