2008–09 European Challenge Cup

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.

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.

England France Ireland Italy Romania Spain Bristol London Irish Newcastle Falcons Northampton Saints Saracens Worcester Warriors Bayonne Brive Bourgoin Montpellier Toulon Mont-de-Marsan Dax Connacht Overmach Parma Petrarca Padova Rovigo Viadana București Oaks El Salvador

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.

{| class="wikitable" |+ Key to colours |- | style="background: #ccffcc;" | | Winner of each pool, advance to quarterfinals. Seed # in parentheses |- | style="background: #ccccff;" | | Three highest-scoring second-place teams advance to quarterfinals. Seed # in parentheses

Pool 1 TeamPWDLTries forTries againstTry diffPoints forPoints againstPoints diffTBLBPts 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 TeamPWDLTries forTries againstTry diffPoints forPoints againstPoints diffTBLBPts 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 TeamPWDLTries forTries againstTry diffPoints forPoints againstPoints diffTBLBPts 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 București Oaks 6 1 0 5 8 26 −18 87 197 −110 0 1 5

Pool 4 TeamPWDLTries forTries againstTry diffPoints forPoints againstPoints diffTBLBPts 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 El Salvador 6 0 0 6 5 52 −47 46 333 −287 0 0 0

Pool 5 TeamPWDLTries forTries againstTry diffPoints forPoints againstPoints diffTBLBPts 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 SeedPool WinnersPtsTF+/-1 London Irish2944+2662 Northampton Saints2937+2093 Saracens2620+1574 Worcester Warriors2436+1615 Brive2433+154SeedPool Runners-upPtsTF+/-6 Newcastle Falcons1924+887 Connacht1920+198 Bourgoin1518+43 – Bristol1414−28 – Viadana138−6

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

Semi-finals

Final

2008–09 European Challenge Cup

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